title: Three-year follow-up after withdrawal of iron therapy in uremic patients on regular dialytic treatment.
abstract: Iron supplementation is commonly recommended in uremic patients undergoing regular dialytic treatment in order to correct a presumed iron deficiency due to impaired absorption and dialytic losses. Serum ferritin levels show an iron overload in 83% of 136 patients on 1.25 g/year i.v. iron therapy. After the withdrawal of iron therapy, directly correlated ferritin levels and percentage transferrin saturation decreased slowly, except in carriers of HLA-A3 antigens and in polytransfused patients. In these latter patients, desferrioxamine reduced but did not normalize the iron balance. The 16 patients who never received iron therapy showed a normal iron balance over a 3-year follow-up. Despite iron-ferritin therapy, 11 patients with baseline ferritin values at the lower normal limits showed a tendency toward further depletion. Orally administered bivalent iron seems to be more promising in normalizing iron-deficient patients without potentially harmful overloading.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014168:Transferrin / Q000378:metabolism; D014511:Uremia / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D014168:Transferrin; D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron