title: Application of recombinant human erythropoietin in patients with polycystic kidney disease and chronic renal failure.
abstract: Recombinant erythropoietin was used in the treatment of the anemic syndrome in 5 patients (4 women and 1 man), aged 45-63, with confirmed autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. All patients were with II stage chronic renal insufficiency. The treatment was conducted with Eprex (Silag, Switzerland) administered subcutaneously in a dose of 50 U/kg of body weight for three months. Once weekly, hemoglobin, hematocrit, erythrocytes, and serum iron were investigated in all patients. Simultaneously, we used recombinant erythropoietin in the same dose and treatment protocol on a control group of 3 women and 2 men with II stage chronic renal insufficiency but without polycystic kidney disease. The control patients were suffering from other diseases leading to uremia. In both groups, the hemoglobin and hematocrit were found to be significantly increased whereas their serum iron tended to decrease which required inclusion of iron containing preparations in the treatment. We found no significant differences both in the dynamics of influencing the disease and in the final results of the treatment with erythropoietin between the patients with polycystic kidney diseases and those without polycystosis and chronic renal insufficiency. No allergic reactions were observed during treatment. Arterial pressure was elevated in all patients. We think that recombinant erythropoietin can be used successfully in the treatment of renal anemia in patients with polycystic kidney disease and chronic renal insufficiency in the predialysis stage.
authors.affiliation: University of Medicine, Clinic of Nephrology, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dimitrakov
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kunchev
mesh_terms: D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016891:Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin