Absorbents therapy, as a conservative option, can improve kidney function in chronic kidney disease.

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), also called chronic kidney failure, is increasingly recognized as a global public health problem in the entire world. It is characterized by slow, progressive, and irreversible loss in kidney physiology. Today, the prevalence of CKD is increasing dramatically. CKD can affect almost every organ system, including the cardiovascular system. Many treatments have been attempted for CKD, such as renal transplantation, hemodialysis (HD), and peritoneal dialysis (PD). At the end stage of CKD, HD is the most widely used therapy throughout the world. However, these options can decrease volume expansion and uremic solute retention and also increase patient survival. Furthermore, there are certain complications associated with the use of these methods. Previous studies have reported that the main side effects are headaches, muscle cramps, abdominal pain, hypotension, hypertension, vomiting, and constipation. Therefore, the investigation for better and more convenient dialysis techniques should continue, as well as the search for a better material to enhance the clearance of nitrogenous waste products from the body. The intestine has a significant effect on the clearance of nitrogenous waste products from the body, making it a potentially appropriate site for CKD management. The potential mechanism of the intestinal dialysis technique is that it can absorb excess fluids, uremic toxins, and electrolytes within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and exert them in the feces before they can be absorbed into the blood. In the present review, we will focus on different absorbents as a conservative treatment to remove uremic waste metabolites from the GI tract for the improvement of kidney function in CKD.