There was no increased risk of infections with IV iron .
Gastrointestinal AEs were reduced with IV iron .
CONCLUSION Intravenous iron therapy is not associated with an increased risk of SAEs or infections .
Infusion reactions are more pronounced with IV iron
OBJECTIVE To amass all available evidence regarding the safety of intravenous ( IV ) iron preparations to provide a true balance of efficacy and safety .
Comparison of Intravenous Iron Sucrose to Oral Iron in the Treatment of Anemic Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease Not on Dialysis
Background : Few studies compare oral to intravenous ( IV ) iron for managing anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease ( CKD ) not on dialysis . Methods : We enrolled 96 CKD anemic patients on erythropoietin in a r and omized , open-label , multicenter , controlled study . Patients received 29 days of oral FeSO4 ( 325 mg t.i.d . ) or intravenous ( IV ) iron sucrose ( 5 doses of 200 mg weekly ) . Assessment s were made up to 14 days after the last dose . Primary endpoints were changes in hemoglobin and ferritin , and clinical success was evaluated from the percent of patients with combined endpoints of rises in hemoglobin/ferritin , hemoglobin/ferritin/TSAT , and hemoglobin/TSAT . Results : There was no significant difference in hemoglobin values between IV and oral therapy . IV iron patients had greater increases in mean serum ferritin ( 288 ng/ml , p < 0.0001 ) compared to oral iron patients ( –5.1 ng/ml , p = NS ) . IV iron patients with baseline ferritin < 100 ng/ml had a greater increase in hemoglobin ( 1.4 g/dl ) compared to oral iron patients ( 0.9 g/dl ) ( p < 0.05 ) . More IV iron patients ( 54.2 % ) attained hemoglobin values > 11.0 g/dl compared to oral iron patients ( 31.3 % , p = 0.028 ) , and met hemoglobin/ferritin ( 62.5 % ) , hemoglobin/TSAT ( 47.9 % ) , hemoglobin/ferritin/TSAT ( 43.8 % ) , and ferritin/TSAT criteria ( 54.2 % ) than oral iron patients ( 0 , 22.9 , 0 , and 0 % , respectively ) . There were no serious side effects . Conclusions : These CKD patients had increases in both hemoglobin and ferritin following IV iron therapy , whereas those treated with oral iron had increases in hemoglobin without increases in iron stores . Iron sucrose , given weekly as 200 mg IV push over 5 min is an effective and safe anemia treatment in this population
There was no increased risk of infections with IV iron .
Gastrointestinal AEs were reduced with IV iron .
CONCLUSION Intravenous iron therapy is not associated with an increased risk of SAEs or infections .
Infusion reactions are more pronounced with IV iron
OBJECTIVE To amass all available evidence regarding the safety of intravenous ( IV ) iron preparations to provide a true balance of efficacy and safety .