Effects and safety of lanthanum carbonate in end stage renal disease patients with hyperphosphatemia: a meta-analysis--system review of lanthanum carbonate.

AIM: To assess the effect and safety of lanthanum carbonate (LC) for hypophosphatemia in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
METHODS: According to the collaborative review group search strategy, we searched MEDLINE (1996 to 2012.12); EBCO (1996 to 2012.12), and CNKI. We searched Chinese journals by hand. We conducted quality assessment and data extraction by two independent investigators. Meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan 5.0. Results were expressed as OR with 95% confidence interval for dichotomous outcomes and WMD with 95% confidence interval for continuous outcomes. RESULT: We identified 16 reports which might meet the inclusion criteria for our review. The meta-analysis showed that LC was superior to placebo in treating hypophosphatemia of end-stage renal disease patients (OR = 5.46, 95% CI: 2.37 to 2.61, p < 0.005) and as efficient as conventional therapies (WMD = -0.06, 95% CI: -0.27 to 0.15, p = 0.57). The incidence of all adverse events was similar between LC- and placebo-treated patients (OR = 1.16, 95% CI: 0.79 to 1.68, p = 0.45).
CONCLUSION: Lanthanum carbonate is well effective and tolerated in treating hyperphosphatemia of ESRD patients. Lanthanum carbonate is not likely to cause hypercalcemia compared to calcium-based phosphate binders.