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Intravenous iron treatment in pregnancy: comparison of high-dose ferric carboxymaltose vs. iron sucrose

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Published/Copyright: May 13, 2012
Journal of Perinatal Medicine
From the journal Journal of Perinatal Medicine Volume 40 Issue 5

Abstract

Objective: Oral iron substitution has shown to be insufficient for treatment of severe iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy. Ferric carboxymaltose is a new intravenous (i.v.) iron formulation promising to be more effective and as safe as iron sucrose. We aimed to assess side effects and tolerance of ferric carboxymaltose compared to i.v. iron sucrose in pregnant women.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 206 pregnant women who were treated either with ferric carboxymaltose or iron sucrose for iron-deficiency anemia with intolerability to oral iron substitution, or insufficient hemoglobin increase after oral iron treatment, or need for rapid hemoglobin reconstitution. Primary endpoint was to evaluate the maternal safety and tolerability. Secondary endpoint was to assess efficacy of the treatment and exclude safety concerns for the fetus.

Results: The incidence of drug-related adverse events was low and mostly mild in both groups. Mild adverse events occurred in 7.8% for ferric carboxymaltose and in 10.7% for iron sucrose. The mean rise of hemoglobin value was 15.4 g/L for ferric carboxymaltose and 11.7 g/L for iron sucrose.

Conclusion: Ferric carboxymaltose administration in pregnant women is well tolerated and is not associated with any relevant clinical safety concerns. Ferric carboxymaltose has a comparable safety profile to iron sucrose but offers the advantage of a much higher iron dosage at a time reducing the need for repeated applications and increasing patients’ comfort. Ferric carboxymaltose is the drug of choice, if i.v. iron treatment becomes necessary in the second or third trimester of pregnancy.

Keywords: Anemia; ferric carboxymaltose; hemoglobin; intravenous iron therapy; iron deficiency; iron sucrose; pregnancy; safety; tolerability
Corresponding author: Professor Dr. Daniel Surbek Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology University Hospital Insel and University of Bern Effingerstr. 102 3010 Bern Switzerland
Received: 2011-9-15
Revised: 2012-2-29
Accepted: 2012-3-27
Published Online: 2012-05-13
Published in Print: 2012-09-01

©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/jpm-2011-0231
Keywords for this article
Anemia; ferric carboxymaltose; hemoglobin; intravenous iron therapy; iron deficiency; iron sucrose; pregnancy; safety; tolerability

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Masthead
  3. Original Articles – Obstetrics
  4. Intravenous iron treatment in pregnancy: comparison of high-dose ferric carboxymaltose vs. iron sucrose
  5. Trophoblastic progranulin expression is upregulated in cases of fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia
  6. Can a customized standard for large for gestational age identify women at risk of operative delivery and shoulder dystocia?
  7. Can discordance in CRL at the first trimester predict birth weight discordance in twin pregnancies?
  8. Anxiety and deterioration of quality of life factors associated with recurrent miscarriage in an observational study
  9. Neonatal outcome in infants of patients with radical vaginal trachelectomy
  10. The prevalence of gestational diabetes in advanced economies
  11. First-trimester reference ranges for decidual thickness and its relation to progesterone levels
  12. Original Articles – Fetus
  13. Levels of cytokines in umbilical cord blood in relation to spontaneous term labor
  14. Survival and neonatal outcome after fetoscopic guided laser occlusion (FLOC) of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) in Sweden
  15. Is it necessary to induce labor in cases of intrauterine growth restriction at term?
  16. Fetal myocardial peak systolic strain before and after intrauterine red blood cell transfusion – a tissue Doppler imaging study
  17. Delayed interval delivery in twin and triplet pregnancies: 6 years of experience in one perinatal center
  18. Original Articles – Newborn
  19. Rapid neonatal weight gain increases risk of childhood overweight in offspring of diabetic mothers
  20. Factors that affect the postnatal increase in superior mesenteric artery blood flow velocity in very low birth weight preterm infants
  21. Central-peripheral temperature gradient: an early diagnostic sign of late-onset neonatal sepsis in very low birth weight infants
  22. A practical method for reducing blindness due to retinopathy of prematurity in a developing country
  23. Manual neonatal ventilation training: a respiratory function monitor helps to reduce peak inspiratory pressures and tidal volumes during resuscitation
  24. Performance of the definitions of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome and sepsis in neonates
  25. Congress Calendar
  26. Congress Calendar
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