Although the practice pattern

(with or without Ibrutinib supplier tonsillectomy, immunosuppressants, etc) was not standardized, almost 70 % hospitals were found to perform corticosteroid therapy. Consequently, one can conclude that corticosteroid therapy has become standard in Japan. In particular, TSP and combination therapy are popular in internal medicine and pediatric departments, respectively. Intraglomerular coagulation, either through local activation of blood coagulation or impaired removal by the fibrinolytic system, has been proposed as one of the factors causing glomerular injury in IgAN [23]. Previous studies including meta-analysis [24–27] reported beneficial effects of anti-platelet agents for IgAN. Therefore, antiplatelet agents are listed in the Japanese regional guidelines [8]. In fact, the national health insurance covers dipyridamole for glomerulonephritis and dilazep hydrochloride click here for IgAN. On the contrary, Fleoge et al. [28] did not recommend using antiplatelet agents in patients with IgAN because most studies on antiplatelet agents are often combined with immunosuppressants and were retrospective and nonrandomized. Moreover, the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Clinical Practice Guideline for Glomerulonephritis concluded that there is no benefit for antiplatelet agents alone because patients received other concomitant therapies in Japanese studies [29]. Our results suggest that

almost all Japanese hospitals (351, 93.4 %) prescribed antiplatelet agents for IgAN. It is thought that Japanese nephrologists prescribe these drugs based on previous studies and for compliance with regional guidelines. In future, we need to confirm the effects of antiplatelet FER agents in a large cohort study from Japan. RAS-I is effective for glomerular hypertension, podocyte injury and tubulointerstitial injury, and thus is prescribed for glomerulonephritis. Amelioration of glomerular injury and fibrosis by ARB has been demonstrated in animal models of IgAN [30]. Because several studies, including randomized controlled trials [31–33], have reported the effectiveness of RAS-I for IgAN, recent guidelines [29] recommend

this therapy for IgAN. Tomino et al. [34] and Moriyama et al. [35] reported the beneficial effects of IgAN in Japan. Furthermore, our results revealed that almost all hospitals (371, 98.7 %) prescribed RAS-I for IgAN, indicating that RAS-I is a popular treatment in Japan. The combination of ACE-I and ARB has antiproteinuric effects greater than monotherapy in normotensive IgAN [36]. The present study revealed that 218 hospitals (58.8 %) prescribed ACE-I and ARB concurrently. The indications for concurrent use are proteinuria and blood pressure, suggesting that they aim to renoprotect through antiproteinuric effects. Our study has several limitations. First, there was a possibility of selection bias. The response rate was only 31.4 % of 1,194 hospitals.