Combination therapy with or without warfarin and dipyridamole for severe childhood IgA nephropathy: an RCT

Background Two previous randomized controlled trialsshowed that treatment of severe childhood immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy using prednisolonewith azathioprine, heparin-warfarin, or dipyridamoleprevented the increase of sclerosed glomeruli. Prednisolonealone, however, did not prevent further increase. These studies indicated the importance of immunosuppressants in the treatment. An additional pilot study using mizoribineinstead of azathioprineenabled us to complete 2 years of combined regimen. It showed non-numerical inferior effectiveness compared with the azathioprineregimen. Further examination of the additional efficacy of warfarin and dipyridamolewas required.