A new trial shows how a drug that binds phosphorus reduces complications among patients on kidney dialysis.
In people with severe kidney disease, dialysis can be a life-saver, filtering impurities from blood. But the machines that carry out dialysis are nowhere near as efficient as the kidneys themselves.

One problem is that phosphorus is not filtered out as well as it should be and blood levels rise. This can cause a condition called hyperparathyroidism, which leads to bone and heart complications. Various drugs have been used to bind phosphorus, but they have their own side effects.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina now report on a new drug, lanthanum carbonate, which seems to be a safe and effective way of binding phosphorus. In the study. 647 dialysis patients received the new medication and 642 received conventional phosphorus binders. Early analysis of the results showed an advantage to lanthanum carbonate in terms of reduced mortality. A further analysis revealed the death rate in the lanthanum carbonate group to be 3.3 per cent, compared to 5.8 per cent among those on conventional phosphorus binding medication.