Relevance of animal models to analgesic-associated renal papillary necrosis in humans

Abstract

Excessive analgesic consumption has been recognized as a very important contributing factor in the development of chronic renal disease, an expensive health care problem that will be better controlled by curbing the abuse of these drugs and improving the therapeutic management of patients [1]. There is, however, still an urgent need to understand the molecular processes that underlie the development of medullary damage and the pathogenesis of its secondary consequences if we wish to optimize therapy for analgesic abusers and ensure that safer analgesic and anti-inflammatory medications will be available in the future. The risk of medullary damage may also extend to several groups of chemicals (to which man is exposed environmentally) that are not classed as analgesics or non-steroidals, and there is a need to establish the risk that these agents pose to human health.