effects of pentoxifylline on inflammatory factors and quality of life in maintenance hemodialysis patients

Background: increased inflammatory cytokines including c-reactive protein (crp) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-α) are a common finding in patients with particularly those with end-stage renal disease (esrd), which can lead to several complications in these patients and reduce their quality of life. considering the anti-inflammatory effects of pentoxifylline, this drug could play a role in reducing inflammatory factors and improving quality of life (qol) of hemodialysis (hd) patients. methods: in this randomized placebo-controlled trial 88 chronic hd patients were divided into two groups with equal numbers. the intervention group received a tablet of pentoxifylline 400 milligrams and control group received the matching placebo, daily for 3 months. at baseline and after 3 months, inflammatory factors including serum levels of tnf-α and crp were measured. also, the medical outcome study 36-item short-form health survey (sf-36) qol questionnaire was completed by each patient at the beginning and end of the study. results: significant reduction in serum levels of tnf-α, and crp as well as substantial improvement of all dimensions of qol were observed in the intervention group after 3 months of pentoxifylline treatment (p = 0.04; p <0.001, p <0.05 respectively). between groups comparison showed a marked reduction in inflammatory markers including tnf-α and crp in recipients of pentoxifylline than the control group at the end of the study (p = 0.003 for both). in addition to dimensions of physical component score (pcs), mental component score (mcs) and overall score of qol showed significant improvement in the pentoxifylline group compared to the placebo group at month 3 of the study (p = 0.003; p = 0.027, p = 0.002 respectively). conclusion: use of pentoxifylline in hd patients illustrated positive effects on inflammation and health-related qol.