%0 Journal Article %T Long-term effects of aliskiren on blood pressure and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in hypertensive hemodialysis patients %A Morishita Y %A Watanabe M %A Hanawa S %A Iimura O %J International Journal of Nephrology and Renovascular Disease %D 2012 %I %X Yoshiyuki Morishita1, Minami Watanabe1, Shiho Hanawa1, Osamu Iimura2, Sadao Tsunematsu3, Kenichi Ishibashi4, Eiji Kusano11Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi, Japan; 2Kumakura Clinic, Tochigi, Japan; 3Yuki Clinic, Ibaragi, Japan; 4Department of Medical Physiology, Meiji Pharmaceutical University, Tokyo, JapanObjective: The long-term effects of aliskiren in hypertensive hemodialysis patients remain to be elucidated.Design: In this post hoc analysis, we followed up 25 hypertensive hemodialysis patients who completed 8-week aliskiren treatment in a previous study for 20 months to investigate the blood pressure-lowering effect and inhibitory effect on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.Results: Among the 25 patients, eleven patients continued with aliskiren treatment. Blood pressure (¡À standard deviation) decreased from 175 ¡À 18/80 ¡À 11 mmHg at baseline to 156 ¡À 20/76 ¡À 9 mmHg at month 20. Plasma renin activity, angiotensin I, and angiotensin II decreased from baseline to month 20 (plasma renin activity (ng/mL/h): 2.3 ¡À 2.6 to 0.3 ¡À 0.4 (P < 0.05), angiotensin I (pg/mL): 909.1 ¡À 902.5 to 41.5 ¡À 14.8 (P < 0.05), angiotensin II (pg/mL): 41.5 ¡À 45.8 to 11.0 ¡À 4.9 (P < 0.05).Conclusion: Long-term treatment with aliskiren provides effective blood pressure lowering and inhibition of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, which are sustained over 20 months in hypertensive hemodialysis patients.Keywords: aliskiren, blood pressure, renin, angiotensin, aldosterone, hemodialysis patients, long-term effects %U http://www.dovepress.com/long-term-effects-of-aliskiren-on-blood-pressure-and-the-renin-angiote-a9530