Effectiveness of treatment with oral paricalcitol in patients on peritoneal dialysis: a Spanish multicenter study

Aims. Recently, oral form of paricalcitol has allowed extension of treatment to ambulatory patients on peritoneal dialysis but few data have been published about the benefits of paricalcitol in this subgroup. A multicenter, retrospective study was carried out to increase current knowledge on the effectiveness and safety of paricalcitol in 162 peritoneal dialyzed patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism. Methods: Case histories of patients treated with paricalcitol for at least 6 months were reviewed to extract data on 12 biochemical parameters related to bone disease and health status. Changes in these parameters were described. Doses of paricalcitol and other concomitant treatments were evaluated at least every 3 months. Results: 99 men (61.1%) and 63 women (38.9%) with an average age of 62.07 years were included. PTH levels showed an acute decrease in the first 3 months (35.88%) and a global decrease at Month 6 of 42.39%. A slight increase in calcium was observed (p < 0.001) but it remained between normal range values. Only 5 patients presented serum calcium over 10.2 in two consecutive measurements. No changes were found in phosphorus, calcium-phosphorus product, hemoglobin, alkaline phosphatase, GGT, albumin, PCR inflammatory markers, pH and bicarbonate. The decrease in proteinuria levels was nearly statistically significant (p = 0.061). Only 6 patients (0.36%) abandoned the treatment. Conclusions: Paricalcitol therapy was well tolerated with a high effectiveness in patients on peritoneal dialysis. A slight increase in serum calcium levels was observed, although within normal ranges. No changes in other biochemical parameters related to bone disease could be associated to paricalcitol with data compiled in our study. Paricalcitol seems to have a protective effect on proteinuria levels.