[Iron reserves in patients with chronic renal insufficiency].

Hemorrhage values and the amount of iron entering the body with drugs and blood transfusions were determined in 107 patients with the terminal CRF stage. Of them 59 received regular hemodialyses. The level of serum iron and ferritin as well as iron reserves in the body were investigated at the start and end of the study. In the end a histochemical study of the content of hemosiderin in the bone marrow, liver and spleen was performed. A close interrelationship of iron reserves determined with a modified desferal test and the level of serum ferritin (r = 0.94) was established. The highest iron reserves were revealed in the patients receiving blood transfusions and parenteral iron drugs. Criteria for the assessment of iron reserves in patients with renal failure were determined by means of the modified desferal test and investigation of serum ferritin. Normal ferritin reserves in such patients corresponded to serum ferritin values within the range of 50-400 micrograms/l and indices of the modified desferal test ranging from 0.4 to 2.0/0.5 g of desferal. Of a degree of hemosiderosis one could judge on the basis of a histochemical investigation of tissue hemosiderin only. Iron drugs per os were proposed for the prevention of disorders of iron balance in patients with renal failure.