[The efficacy of Sulodexide--a low-molecular heparin--in the therapy of diabetic nephropathy].

A novel pathogenetic approach to treatment of diabetic nephropathy (DN) as a severe complication of diabetes mellitus is aimed at inhibiting DN progression or its involution by means of reestablishment of heparan sulfate synthesis by glycosaminoglycane drug. In the study of 9 patients with microalbuminuria and 9 with proteinuria this drug was low-molecular heparin-sulodexide (Alfa-Wasserman, Italy). The treatment course of 3 weeks resulted in albuminuria fall in 89% of patients. In patients with microalbuminuria protein excretion returned to normal values in a week of treatment. This effect was persistent after the drug discontinuation. This was not so for protein excretion in proteinuria patients which became low after 3 weeks of treatment, but the effect was not long-lasting. The authors believe that glycosaminoglycanes hold great promise in DN, especially at early stages of renal diabetic affection.