Pregabalin and Uremic Pruritus.

Sir,

I read an interesting article entitled, “effectiveness of posthemodialysis administration of pregabalin (75 mg) in treatment resistance uremia pruritus” by Khan et al., which was quite informative.[1] Here, I would like to share the relevant literature.

Earlier in a study in 2012, Rayner et al. have shown the efficacy of gabapentin and pregabalin. They also observed that the patients who intolerated gabapentin could tolerate pregabalin very well.[2] Pregabalin has been demonstrated to have excellent response in one earlier small-scale study on twelve patients and response was dramatic. They also observed that the pregabalin should be gradually build-up to avoid side effects.[3] In an another randomized placebo-controlled study and comparison with ondensetron, they found excellent response with pregabalin on 62 patients.[4]

Pregabalin is also effective in restless leg syndrome which is frequent in uraemia, it has less tendency to develop hypotension, impotency, weight gain better dosing profile in comparison to gabapentin, less costlier than lamotrigine, better side effect than doxepin, amitriptiline, nortriptyline, and paroxitin, so pregabalin may be a promising drug for itching in general and uraemic pruritis in particular. In coming future, of course, further data are needed to strong these promises.[5]

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Conflicts of interest

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