Groundbreaking Trial: Fish Oil Slashes Heart Complications in Dialysis Patients
A significant development for patients undergoing dialysis for kidney failure—a group with an exceptionally high risk of serious heart and vascular problems—has emerged from a major international clinical trial. The study demonstrates that a regular fish oil supplement can offer substantial protection, effectively halving the risk of these events.
The trial, known as PISCES, was a collaborative effort, co-led in Australia by Monash Health and the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash University. It included 1,228 participants across 26 dialysis centres in Australia and Canada.
The core finding is a 43 per cent lower rate of serious cardiovascular events in participants who received four grams of fish oil daily, which contains the key active ingredients EPA and DHA, compared to those in the placebo group. The serious events tracked included heart attack, stroke, cardiac death, and vascular-related amputations.
Adjunct Professor Kevan Polkinghorne, a nephrologist at Monash Health and the lead investigator for the Australian section of the study, emphasized the profound nature of the results. "Patients on dialysis have extremely high cardiovascular risk, and very few therapies have been shown to reduce that risk," Professor Polkinghorne explained. “In a field where many trials have been negative, this is a significant finding.”
Professor Polkinghorne suggested that the notable benefit might stem from the fact that dialysis patients typically have lower levels of EPA and DHA than the general population. He added a vital caveat: the findings are specific to people receiving haemodialysis for kidney failure and are not applicable to healthy individuals or other patient groups.
The PISCES trial's findings were presented at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2025 and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The Australian study arm was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and coordinated by the Australasian Kidney Trials Network (AKTN). International leadership was provided by Professor Charmaine Lok and her team at the University Health Network in Toronto and the University of Calgary.
