The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of oral iron to manage anemia in long-term hemodialysis (HD) patients using ultrapure dialysate. This study was prospectively conducted on 23 patients (11 males and 12 females; median age 60 years, range 35-81) who underwent HD in our hospital from March to September 2007. The patients were randomly assigned to two treatment groups. The first group of 11 patients received ferrous fumarate 305 mg per oral tablet once a day, while the second group of 12 patients received infusions of 50 mg iron in a 0.9% sodium chloride solution. At the end of the 6-month treatment, patients receiving oral iron and intravenous iron had a significant increase in transferrin saturation from baseline (20.1±8.9 to 29.7±7.2; p=0.011 and 17.4±6.1 to 33.7±8.6; p=0.0001, respectively) and ferritin (32.6±15.4 to 115.4±28.2; p=0.0001 and 57.8±26.7 to 183.5±47.5; p=0.0002, respectively). In both groups, hemoglobin, hematocrit and dry weight were increased, but did not reach statistical significance. Moreover, both groups showed a significant reduction in the mean weekly erythropoietin dose from baseline (5,590.9±1,513.6 to 3,727.3±1,618.1; p=0.011 and 6,775.8±2,292.2 to 4,375.0±2,473.7; p=0.027, respectively). Oral iron is indeed as effective as intravenous iron in managing anemia in HD patients using ultrapure dialysate.

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