Randomized controlled trials renal disease

Combination treatment of angiotensin-11 receptor blocker and angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor in non-diabetic renal disease (COOPERATE) A randomized controlled trial. Lancet 2003 361 117-124. 

Japanese Study Group for Renal Disease in C. Combination therapy with steroids and mizoribine in juvenile SLE a randomized controlled trial. Pediatr Nephrol 2010 25(5) 877-82. 

Heinz, J., Kropf, S., Domrose, U., Westphal, S., Borucki, K., Luley, C., Neumann, K.H., and Dierkes, J., 2010. B vitamins and the risk of total mortality and cardiovascular disease in end-stage renal disease results of a randomized controlled trial. Circulation. 121 1432-1438. 

Jamison, R.L., Hartigan, P., Kaufman, J.S., Goldfarb, D.S., Warren, S.R., Guarino, P.D., and Gaziano, J.M., 2007. Effect of homocysteine lowering on mortality and vascular disease in advanced chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease a randomized controlled trial. JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. 298 1163-1170. 

Experiments in animals have found that proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells can be inhibited by calcitriol administration (Mitsuhashi et al. 1991). An over-active renin-angiotensin system (RAS) can impair renal function and deteriorate cardiovascular health (Li 2012), and down-regulation of RAS activity is one of the key mechanisms proposed for calcitriol (Li et al. 2002). Evidence to support this mechanism has been primarily obtained from animal experiments for example, treatment with calcitriol has been shown to down-regulate RAS and to improve cardiac function in la-hydroxylase knockout mice (Zhou et al. 2008), and in salt-sensitive rats with cardiac hypertrophy (Bae et al. 2011, Choi et al. 2011). However, a recent randomized controlled trial in patients with chronic kidney disease did not find improvements in left ventricular mass index or diastolic function by treatment with paricalcitol (active vitamin D analogue) (Thadhani et al. 2012). 

Cardiovascular The effects of calcium supplementation on vascular disease have been studied in a large, randomized, controlled trial in healthy postmenopausal women over 5 years [18 ]. There was a substantial increase in rates of vascular events, particularly myocardial infarction, in women who were randomized to calcium. These effects were more marked in those who were highly compliant with treatment. Calcium supplementation also appears to accelerate vascular disease in patients with renal impairment, including those not yet requiring hemodialysis. 

Kshirsagar AV, Joy MS, Hogan SL, et al. Effect of ACE inhibitors in diabetic and nondiabetic chronic renal disease a systematic overview of randomized placebo-controlled trials. Am J Kidney Dis 2000 35 695— 707. 

At present, plasmapheresis is not expected to have any additional benefits for patients with mild to moderate disease who are receiving immunosuppressive therapy. However, recently completed randomized studies and meta-analyses of controlled trials strongly suggest that, when used as an adjunct to immunosuppressive therapy, plasmapheresis is beneficial for patients with severe disease presenting with acute renal failure. In those patients presenting with pulmonary hemorrhage, early and aggressive use of plasmapheresis has reduced substantially the nearly 50% mortality rate. ... 

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