Anemia in Chronic Kidney Disease

Anemia that is a main complication of chronic kidney disease affects not only the patient’s quality of life, but also morbidity and mortality. The primary cause of anemia in kidney patients is erythropoietin deficiency. Erythropoietin which is used at the last decade of 20th century firstly reduces blood transfusions in this patient population. It is necessary to evaluate the patient’s iron state before starting erythropoietin treatment. It has been suggested that erythropoietin is efficient in case of sufficient iron storage without infection and inflamation. Multiple studies have shown that erythropoietin treatment has positive effect on left ventricular hypertrophy and dilatation, which is the main cause of death in dialysis patients. Currently, neutralizing antierythropoietin antibodies causing resistance to erythropoietin have been discovered.