INTRAVENOUSLY ADMINISTERED SACCHARATED IRON OXIDE IN THE TREATMENT OF HYPOCHROMIC ANEMIA

Abstract

Saccharated iron oxide given intravenously has recently been used successfully by several groups of British investigators for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia.¹The therapeutic response has been uniformly good; reactions have been both infrequent and mild. It is surprising that the preparation can be injected with relative safety since all other forms of iron administered parenterally have caused reactions so severe that their use had to be abandoned; these include ferrous citrate, iron citrate green, ferrous gluconate, ferrous ascorbate, colloidal ferric hydroxide and colloidal ferric oxide.²The toxic manifestations commonly observed with the last two compounds were nausea, vomiting, abdominal and lower back pain, lacrimation, nasal stuffiness, headache, flushing and swelling of the face, swelling and stiffness of the tongue, paresthesias, fever, rapid fall in systolic blood pressure, substernal pain and a sense of impending death. The earlier studies with these therapeutically unsatisfactory iron preparations, however, had