Parenteral Use of Iron and Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) in Haemodialysis Patients

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the effect of supplementation of iron and vitamin C therapy to hemodialysis patients, hoping that this therapy is effective in the treatment of anaemia in these patients. In this work, 40 stable hemodialysis patients suffering from severe to moderate anemia not receiving any form of replacement therapy (i.e., neither erythropoietin (EPO) nor iron), were selected and divided into two groups: The first group was treated by injection with ferrosac 100 mg/5ml twice a week for 3 months, and the second group was treated by injection with 500 mg/2.5ml of vitamin C in combination with 100 mg/5ml ferosac twice a week for three months. The results of this study indicated that: There was a significant decrease in both urea and creatinine in hemodialysis patients after i.v. treatment of ferosac alone (100 mg/5ml) "group I" and combined ferosac (100 mg/5ml) with ascorbic acid (500 mg/2.5ml) "group II" twice weekly for 3 months. There was a significant increase in hemoglobin concentration and serum iron in both hemodialysis patient groups (I&II) after treatment, the highly increase markedly occurred in group II rather than group I after treatment. Moreover, there was a significant decrease in serum ferritin concentration in group I and a more pronounced decrease in group II after treatment, indicating the importance of vitamin C in decreasing the serum ferritin level and therefore the better correction of anemia.

Keywords

• ascorbic acid
• ferrosac
• ferritin
• hemodialysis