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Belcher JM, Parada XV, Simonetto DA, Juncos LA, Karakala N, Wadei HM, Sharma P, Regner KR, Nadim MK, Garcia-Tsao G, Velez JCQ, Parikh SM, Chung RT, Allegretti AS. Terlipressin and the Treatment of Hepatorenal Syndrome: How the CONFIRM Trial Moves the Story Forward. Am J Kidney Dis 2021; 79:737-745. [PMID: 34606933 DOI: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2021.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is a form of acute kidney injury occurring in patients with advanced cirrhosis and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The pathophysiology underlying HRS begins with increasing portal pressures leading to the release of vasodilatory substances which result in pooling blood in the splanchnic system and a corresponding reduction in effective circulating volume. Compensatory activation of the sympathetic nervous system, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and release of arginine vasopressin serve to defend mean arterial pressure but at the cost of severe constriction of the renal vasculature, leading to a progressive, often fulminant form of AKI. While there are no approved treatments for HRS in the United States, multiple countries, including much of Europe, utilize terlipressin, a synthetic vasopressin analogue, as first-line therapy. The recently published CONFIRM trial, the third randomized trial based in North America evaluating terlipressin, met its primary endpoint, showing greater rates of HRS reversal in the terlipressin arm. However, due to concerns about apparent increased rates of respiratory adverse events and a lack of evidence for mortality benefit, terlipressin was not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this Perspective, we explore the history of regulatory approval for terlipressin in the United States, examine the results from CONFIRM and the concerns they raised and consider the future role of terlipressin in this critical clinical area of continued unmet need.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin M Belcher
- Department of Medicine, Section of Nephrology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA and Section of Nephrology, VA-Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA.
| | - Xavier Vela Parada
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Douglas A Simonetto
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Luis A Juncos
- Department of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Little Rock, AR, USA
| | - Nithin Karakala
- Department of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Little Rock, AR, USA
| | - Hani M Wadei
- Department of Transplantation, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Pratima Sharma
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, 1500 E. Medical Center Dr., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Kevin R Regner
- Division of Nephrology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Mitra K Nadim
- Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Guadalupe Garcia-Tsao
- Section of Digestive Diseases, VA-Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA
| | | | - Samir M Parikh
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Division of Nephrology, UT Southwestern, Dallas, TX
| | - Raymond T Chung
- Liver Center and Gastrointestinal Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Andrew S Allegretti
- Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
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