Intravenous Iron Therapy in Patients with Iron Deficiency Anemia: Dosing Considerations.

Abstract

Objective. To provide clinicians with evidence-based guidance for iron therapy dosing in patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA), we conducted a study examining the benefits of a higher cumulative dose of intravenous (IV) iron than what is typically administered. Methods. We first individually analyzed 5 clinical studies, averaging the total iron deficit across all patients utilizing a modified Ganzoni formula; we then similarly analyzed 2 larger clinical studies. For the second of the larger studies (Study 7), we also compared the efficacy and retreatment requirements of a cumulative dose of 1500?mg ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) to 1000?mg iron sucrose (IS). Results. The average iron deficit was calculated to be 1531?mg for patients in Studies 1-5 and 1392?mg for patients in Studies 6-7. The percentage of patients who were retreated with IV iron between Days 56 and 90 was significantly (p < 0.001) lower (5.6%) in the 1500?mg group, compared to the 1000?mg group (11.1%). Conclusions. Our data suggests that a total cumulative dose of 1000?mg of IV iron may be insufficient for iron repletion in a majority of patients with IDA and a dose of 1500?mg is closer to the actual iron deficit in these patients.

View details for DOI 10.1155/2015/763576

View details for PubMedID 26257955

View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4518169