Effects of 1-alpha OH D3 therapy in uremic patients in conservative or dialytic treatment

The effects of phosphate restriction and of 1 alpha OH D3 administration were investigated in patients with advanced chronic renal failure. Few modifications of the various biochemical parameters in the patients were achieved with the restriction of dietary phosphate while better results were obtained with 1 alpha OH D3 administration. In dialyzed patients the treatment with this drug resulted in a normalization in serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase levels and in a remarkable significant decline in plasma parathyroid hormone and a reduction in the bone disease associated with uremia. This treatment in dialyzed uremic patients could avoid the employment of higher dialysate calcium concentration potentially dangerous for postdialysis hypercalcemia with the risk of metastatic calcifications.