Anemia of Renal Disease

Diagnosis of anemia of renal disease is based on demonstration of renal insufficiency, normocytic anemia, and peripheral reticulocytopenia.

The bone marrow may show erythroid hypoplasia. RBC fragmentation identified on the peripheral smear Peripheral smear Anemia is a decrease in the number of red blood cells (RBCs) as measured by the red cell count, the hematocrit, or the red cell hemoglobin content. In men, anemia is defined as any of the following... read more , particularly if there is thrombocytopenia, suggests microangiopathic hemolytic anemia Microangiopathic Hemolytic Anemia Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia is intravascular hemolysis caused by excessive shear or turbulence in the circulation. (See also Overview of Hemolytic Anemia.) Excessive shear or turbulence... read more and warrants additional investigation and treatment.

Treatment of anemia of renal disease is directed at

If renal function returns to normal, anemia is slowly corrected.

Recombinant EPO improves anemia and reduces transfusion needs in patients with chronic kidney disease and is generally initiated when hemoglobin is < 10 g/dL (< 100 g/dL). In patients receiving long-term dialysis, recombinant erythropoietin (eg, epoetin alfa or darbepoetin alfa) along with iron supplements is the treatment of choice. However, because there is both reduced production of EPO and marrow resistance to EPO, the recombinant EPO dose may need to be higher. The goal is a hemoglobin of 10 to 11.5 g/dL (100 to 115 g/L). Careful monitoring of hemoglobin response is needed because adverse effects (eg, venous thromboembolism Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT) Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is clotting of blood in a deep vein of an extremity (usually calf or thigh) or the pelvis. DVT is the primary cause of pulmonary embolism. DVT results from conditions... read more , myocardial infarction Acute Myocardial Infarction (MI) Acute myocardial infarction is myocardial necrosis resulting from acute obstruction of a coronary artery. Symptoms include chest discomfort with or without dyspnea, nausea, and/or diaphoresis... read more , death) may occur when hemoglobin rises to > 12 to 13 g/dL (> 120 to 130 g/L). Lower doses of EPO are used in patients with chronic kidney disease who are not on dialysis.

In addition, adequate repletion of iron stores is required to ensure an adequate response to recombinant EPO, and concurrent iron supplementation Treatment Iron deficiency is the most common cause of anemia and usually results from blood loss; malabsorption, such as occurs in celiac disease, is a much less common cause. Symptoms are usually nonspecific... read more is often needed. The addition of IV iron is considered in patients with hemoglobin < 10 g/dL (< 100 g/L), ferritin ≤ 500 ng/mL (< 500 micrograms/L), and transferrin saturation (TSAT) ≤ 30%.

In almost all cases, maximum increases in RBCs are reached by 8 to 12 weeks.

Hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase (HIF-PH) inhibitors (eg, daprodustat) are an oral option in patients on dialysis. HIF-PH inhibitors increase endogenous erythropoietin levels by preventing HIF degradation. HIF-PH inhibitors appear to produce similar increases in hemoglobin and have similar rates of adverse cardiovascular outcomes to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (1 Treatment reference Anemia of renal disease is a hypoproliferative anemia resulting primarily from deficient erythropoietin (EPO) or a diminished response to it; it tends to be normocytic and normochromic. Treatment... read more ); however, long-term safety data are lacking.