Faculty Bibliography

Effective treatment of anemia in hemodialysis patients requires ongoing monitoring of iron status. The purpose of this study was to determine levels of commonly used iron indices predictive of iron deficiency in this population. Forty-seven patients with baseline serum ferritin levels < 600 ng/mL were treated with intravenous iron dextran (INFeD; Schein Pharmaceutical Inc., Florham Park, NJ), 1000 mg over ten hemodialysis treatments. Patients whose hematocrit value increased by 5% or who had a 10% decrease in their erythropoietin dose by 2 months were classified as having iron deficiency (N = 31; 66%). All other subjects were classified as having adequate iron (N = 16; 34%). There was no statistically significant difference in baseline serum ferritin, transferrin saturation, mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin content, or red cell distribution width between the two groups. Receiver operator curves demonstrated that none of the iron indices had a high level of utility (both sensitivity and specificity > 80%). Two tests had marginal utility, serum ferritin at a level of < 150 ng/mL, and transferrin saturation < 21%. It was concluded that because of the tests' marginal utility, they should only be interpreted in the context of the patient's underlying erythropoietin, responsiveness. In patients who are responsive to erythropoietin, a transferrin saturation value < 18% or serum ferritin level < 100 ng/mL should be used to indicate inadequate iron. When erythropoietin resistance is present, transferrin saturation of < 27% or serum ferritin < 300 ng/mL should be used to guide iron management.

The treatment of anemia in hemodialysis patients is frequently hindered by the presence of suboptimal iron stores. Intravenous iron dextran is in common use to maintain iron stores in this population, but there are little published data regarding the incidence and type of adverse events. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of this medication. Charts from four hemodialysis centers of all 573 patients treated with intravenous iron dextran (INFeD; Schein Pharmaceutical, Inc, Florham Park, NJ) between July 1, 1993, and June 30, 1995, were studied. Twenty-seven patients (4.7%) had adverse reactions that were related to iron dextran. Four patients (0.7%) had reactions classified as serious (one cardiac arrest; three others required hospitalization). Ten patients (1.7%) had reactions classified as anaphylactoid. No patients died or developed permanent disability as a result of reactions. The most common adverse reactions included itching (1.5% of patients) and dyspnea or wheezing (1.5%); others included chest pain (1.0%), nausea (0.5%), hypotension (0.5%), swelling (0.5%), dyspepsia (0.5%), diarrhea (0.5%), skin flushing (0.3%), headache (0.3%), cardiac arrest (0.2%), and myalgias (0.2%). Five of all the reactions occurred during a test dose; four of these were anaphylactoid. Several factors were studied as possible predictors of adverse reactions. A positive history of drug allergy (odds ratio, 2.4; P = 0.03) and history of multiple drug allergy (odds ratio, 5.5; P = 0.0004) were significant predictors of reactions. In summary, we found serious adverse reactions to be uncommon in hemodialysis patients treated with intravenous iron dextran. Future prospective studies will help confirm this finding.

We present four cases of proximal calciphylaxis in end-stage renal disease patients treated with hemodialysis. All patients were diabetic and developed lesions in areas that had previously served as sites of insulin injection. We review the presentation, pathogenesis, pathology, prognosis, and treatment of this devastating condition. Finally, we hypothesize that subcutaneous injection of insulin may play a pathogenic role in the development of proximal calciphylaxis.