Alport Syndrome

Question: My 9 year old has alport syndrom and will be taking enalapril? I would like to know as much information I can regarding enalapril. How it assist alports syndrome correcting the kidney so their is no kidney failure later in life. My daughter is 9 year old African-American who has alports. She has mild hearing loss and wears eye classes due to alports. I would like to prevent her from having any kidney dysfunction and was told that enalapril will prevent this. However, this medicine is for candidates that have kidney problems caused by diabetes since my daughter has some scarring in her kidney she does not have diabetes. Any information about Alports of enalapril would be helpful. Support groups for parents going through the same situation who have children with alport syndrome. Thank you DC

Answer: I am sorry to hear that. After I looked at your post, I search on some journals myself. There are two options as for medical treatment. ACEI, and cyclosporine. ACEI (enalapril) helps to reduce proteinuria, retard the progression of renal failure (by decreasing hydrostatic pressure across glomerular capillaries). Use of cyclosporine is controversial. I guess even modern medicine have their limitation. But careful treatment with hypertension, and its associated bone disease will be helpful. Hopefully that helps. Good luck