Monitoring of iron requirements in renal patients on erythropoietin

摘要

We studied 38 patients (9 haemodialysis, 18 peritoneal dialysis, 11 advanced renal failure) over the first 12 weeks of erythropoietin therapy. In 14 iron-overloaded patients (ferritin>500μg/l) the haemoglobin (±SEM) increased from 6.74±0.27 to 9.85±0.36 g/dl (P20, whereas two of five patients with persistent iron overload (ferritin>500μg/l) had a TS<20. We conclude that (a) in patients with iron overload, stored iron is utilizable for erythropoiesis; (b) oral iron supplements are necessary and sufficient for most patients without iron overload; (c) the serum ferritin is a better indicator of iron status than the TS for r