Is Intravenous Iron Treatment in Pediatric Patients Safe and Effective Enough?

Introduction: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most common hematological disease among infants and children. Although most of the children with IDA are treated with oral iron preparations, intravenous (IV) iron is an alternative for children with severe IDA who have difficulty in adhering to or absorbing oral iron. In this study, the reasons of IDA in patients treated with IV iron and the effectivity and safety of iron sucrose preparations in pediatric patients were evaluated. Materials and Methods: The medical records of children received IV iron sucrose at a pheripheral hospital between June 2014 and June 2017 were reviewed retrospectively. The IDA patients who are unresponsive to oral iron or whose hemoglobin (Hb) <7 g/dL and received IV iron treatment were evaluated for the reasons of anemia, the efficacy and safety of IV iron treatment. Before and after iron sucrose infusion laboratory results were compared. All records were reviewed for serious side effects and allergic reactions. Results: A total of 33 patients, aged between 3-18 years were enrolled into the study. While 58% of the patients who received IV iron treatment had inadequate consumption of iron, 24% had malabsorption. In the initial evaluation Hb levels of the patients were 3.2-7.8 (6.54±1.06) g/dL, (mean corpuscular volume) MCV was 59.18±6.66 fL and ferritin was 1.87±1.34 µg/L, the mean post-treatment Hb was 11.39±1.51 g/dL, MCV was 76.06±7.59 fL and ferritin was 54.79±15.64 µg/L. No serious side effects were seen. Conclusion: The use of IV iron sucrose in pediatric patients with IDA leads to significant increase in Hb and reduces erythrocyte suspension transfusion and is an effective and safe method for iron treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]