Korean J Med.  2000 Mar;58(3):310-316.

Efficacy of low dose recombinant human erythropoietin treatment in patients with pre-dialysis chronic renal failure

• Kwon YE
• Chung JH

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Anemia is a most common complication of chronic renal failure and erythropoietin has proven to be a effective treatment for anemia in dialysis patient. However, in patients with pre-dialysis chronic renal failure, Use of erythropoietin is usually limited because of its high cost and frequent administration. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of low dose erythropoietin treatment in patient with pre-dialysis chronic renal failure.
METHODS
We administered erythropoietin 2000U weekly to 25 patients with pre-dialysis chronic renal failure untill hemoglobin and hematocrit reached to 11g/dl, 33% respectively. After then we administered erythropoietin 1000U weekly as a maintenance dose. We measured the level of hemoglobin, hematocrit, reticulocyte count, serum creatinine, BUN, serum iron, ferritin, total iron binding capacity every two weeks for 12 months.
RESULTS
1) In 25 patients treated for 16 weeks, hemoglobin and hematocrit level increased from 8.2g/dl,24.2% to 8.8g/dl,28.2%(p< 0.05) respectively. After 28 weeks treatment, 23 patients(92%) reached target hemoglobin and hematocrit value(11g/dl,33%). 2) Serum iron level increased from 180.2ug/dl to 165.1ug/dl(p< 0.05) after 16 weeks treatment. But there were no significant changes in serum ferritin and total iron binding capacitiy. 3) There was no significant change in reciprocal serum creatinine value before and after erythropoietin treatment. 5) There was no significant side effect except mild exacerabation of hypertension(2 cases) during erythropoietin treatment.
CONCLUSION
This result show that relatively low dose erythropoietin treatment in patient with pre-dialysis chronic renal failure can be used as a effective treatment for anemia despite of slow and gradual response.

Keyword

Pre-dialysis; Chronic renal failure; Low dose erythropoietin

MeSH Terms

Anemia
Creatinine
Dialysis
Erythropoietin*
Ferritins
Hematocrit
Humans*
Iron
Kidney Failure, Chronic*
Reticulocyte Count
Creatinine
Erythropoietin
Ferritins
Iron