Intravenous versus oral iron supplementation for correction of post-transplant anaemia in renal transplant patients.

This paper describes the study design for a single-center, prospective, open-label, randomized, controlled trial of oral (ferrous sulfate bid) versus intravenous iron (500 mg iron polymaltose, single dose) supplements in 100 renal transplant recipients. The primary outcome is time to normalization of hemoglobin post-transplant (Hb ≥ 11 g/dL) within a 3-month follow-up period. As the authors state, if this well-designed trial shows a reduction in the time to correction of anemia with intravenous iron or less side effects than with oral iron, then intravenous iron may become the standard of care in this patient group. This trial is not registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. We look forward to seeing the trial results.

– Manuel Muoz