Experience with Subcutaneous Versus Intravenous Administration of Erythropoietin in Haemodialysis Patients

Abstract

The efficacy of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) in correcting the anaemia in patients with end-stage renal failure has been demonstrated in several clinical studies [1, 6, 9, 18, 19]. In these studies rhEPO was given intravenously. The optimal route of rhEPO administration has not been clearly established. In the study of MacDougall and coworkers in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis identical rhEPO doses were administered intravenously (i. v.) and subcutaneously (s. c.). Peak levels and bioavailability of s. c. rhEPO are lower than those of i. v. rhEPO [13]. Bommer et al. [3] reported s. c. administration of rhEPO to be effective at a smaller weekly dose than i. v. rhEPO. Similar results have been published by Zehnder and Blumberg [20]. However, these findings were challenged [14].