Pruritus in Dialysis Patients Treated with Parenteral Lidocaine

Pruritus is one of the most disturbing and poorly understood symptoms in patients on chronic hemodialysis,1 2 3 4 its reported prevalence varying from 15 to 86 per cent. Except for a few case reports of a dramatic response to subtotal parathyroidectomy,1 , 3 , 4 the therapy of pruritus has been persistently unsuccessful. After one of us (L.T.) learned of the use of lidocaine for relief of itching in a patient with liver disease, we decided to try it for pruritus occurring in patients during hemodialysis.Materials and MethodsPreliminary StudyTwenty patients with persistent severe pruritus during hemodialysis were studied. Conventional drugs for itching (antihistamines, . . .