Subcutaneous recombinant human erythropoietin in hemodialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

We compared the effect of twice weekly subcutaneous recombinant human erythropoietin (SC rHuEPO) in two groups of patients treated with a starting dose of 80 U/kg body weight/week: group I, 7 hemodialysis (HD) patients; group II, 8 continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. In a third group (group III) of 4 patients transferred from HD to CAPD with anemia previously corrected with intravenous (IV) rHuEPO, we studied the changes in the maintenance SC dose to maintain the same hemoglobin. In groups I and II the mean SC doses required to correct anemia and to maintain hemoglobin/hematocrit levels were similar; the mean time for the correction of anemia was significantly longer in HD patients (p = 0.032). In group III the maintenance SC rHuEPO does was reduced to more than 50% at 12 weeks of CAPD. Subcutaneous rHuEPO is effective in reversing anemia in HD and CAPD patients, but it takes longer to correct anemia in HD with the same initial SC rHuEPO low dose. CAPD patients need lower doses of SC rHuEPO than HD patients in IV therapy to maintain the same hemoglobin levels.