Nontransferrin-bound iron in the plasma of haemodialysis patients after intravenous iron saccharate infusion.

This is a very important study as it has long been debated whether relevant amounts of free iron circulate after the administration of parenteral
iron.

The study confirms that this is the case. However, it is not known whether this
is of clinical relevance (depending also on the total amount and time of usage of parenteral iron). A positive finding is that there seems to be no difference concerning the 60’ or 6’ time of administration. Therefore, a short time infusion is practicable.

The open questions are: clinical relevance of the data, differences between various preparations of parenteral iron and differences between different
dosages. More research on this should be conducted.

At present, it seems to me that the benefits of the administration of iron sucrose
outweigh possible negative effects of free iron. In addition, it is known
that iron sucrose has an excellent toxicity pro-file.

– C. Breymann.