ACE Inhibitors for Scleroderma Renal Crisis

Excerpt

To the Editors: We read with great interest the review by Steen and colleagues (1) on the outcome of scleroderma renal crisis before and after the availability of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. Of the 55 patients in the study who had scleroderma renal crisis, the continuation or acceleration of renal insufficiency in 4 patients raised the question of captopril-related renal toxicity. The authors concluded that Captopril could not have caused renal deterioration in these patients because none of the 4 patients had peripheral blood or urine eosinophilia or improvement of renal failure after withdrawal of captopril.

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