Captopril to mitigate chronic renal failure after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: To test whether the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril was effective in mitigating chronic renal failure after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
Methods and Materials: A total of 55 subjects undergoing total body irradiation (TBI)-HSCT were enrolled in this randomized controlled trial. Captopril or identical placebo was started at engraftment and continued as tolerated until 1 year after HSCT.
Results: The baseline serum creatinine and calculated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) did not differ between groups. The 1-year serum creatinine level was lower and the GFR higher in the captopril compared with the placebo group (p = 0.07 for GFR). Patient survival was higher in the captopril compared with the placebo group, but this was also not statistically significant (p = 0.09). In study subjects who received the study drug for more than 2 months, the 1-year calculated GFRs were 92 mL/min and 80 mL/min, for the captopril and placebo groups, respectively (p = 0.1). There was no adverse effect on hematologic outcome.
Conclusions: There is a trend in favor of captopril in mitigation of chronic renal failure after radiation-based HSCT.