Therapeutic effect of gabapentin on cutaneous pruritus in uremia patients on maintenance hemodialysis

Objective To study the therapeutic effect of gabapentin on cutaneous pruritus in uremia patients on maintenance hemodialysis. Methods Twenty-eight patients with cutaneous pruritus on maintenance hemodialysis were randomly divided into control group and gabapentin treatment group,14 patients in each group.Patients in control group received routine hemodialysis and those in gabapentin treatment group were treated with gabapentin（0.2g,3 times a week） plus hemodialysis.Cutaneous pruritus and sleep were scored once a day and adverse events were recorded.Biochemical indexes,creatinine,urea nitrogen,routine blood examination results,parathyroid hormone were detected once a week during treatment. Results The total effective rate was 92.85% for the gabapentin treatment group and 28.57% for the control group.The scores of cutaneous pruritus decreased from 9.23±0.79 to 2.82±1.48 and the scores of sleep decreased from 6.51±1.49 to 1.62±0.97 after treatment（P＜0.05）.Dizziness occurred sometimes in gabapentin treatment group without other adverse reactions.No significant changes were observed in biochemical indexes,creatinine,urea nitrogen,routine blood examination results,parathyroid hormone before and after treatment between the two groups（P＞0.05）. Conclusion Gabapentin is an effective and safe drug for cutaneous pruritus in patients with uremia and can improve their sleep with no significant influence on their biochemical indexes,creatinine,urea nitrogen,routine blood examination results,parathyroid hormone.