Intravenous iron – personal experience of 1000 consecutive infusions

Data on 1000 successive ferric carboxymaltose infusions involving 517 different individuals are presented. The infusions were safe and a clinically effective way of reconstituting the depleted iron stores in patients with iron deficiency anemia and with iron deficiency without anemia. The infusion was discontinued due to infusion-related adverse events in less than one percent of patients (5 out of 517). Some 60% of the patients required more than one infusion. Overall, some 80% of the patients achieved an excellent or good response. However, there seems to be no way of predicting the clinical response nor the need for further infusion(s). The median interval between infusions was about six months, but the variation of time between infusions was large. Thus, patients who require iron infusion therapy must be followed up for extended periods.