Pruritus in dialysis patients — ethiopathogenesis, clinical aspects and treatment

Abstract

Uraemic pruritus is a common complication in dialysis patients which reduces the quality of life and increases the mortality. The ethiopathogenesis of uremic pruritus has not been well explained. Several explanations for ureamic pruritus have been proposed like keratosis, xerosis, dysfunction of immune system, dysfunction of endogenous opioid system, nueropeptide disturbances, water-electrolyte imbalance, dysfunction of divalent cations metabolism, iron-deficiency anaemia and skin surface pH changes. Because of complex pathomechanism there is no known causal treatment of uraemic pruritus. The paper synthesizes the current data regarding ethiopathogenesis and treatment of uraemic pruritus.