Is there material hazard to treatment with intravenous iron?
Winthrop-University Hospital, Mineola, NY, USA Correspondence and offprint requests to: Steven Fishbane MD, 222 Station Plaza North, Suite 510, Mineola, NY 11501, USA. We have been invited to write this article, exploring the question of whether we expose our patients to material hazard when we treat them with intravenous iron. It is a reasonable question to ask with any therapeutic agent, especially after a period in which the use of the agent has increased significantly. The answer to the question, to a degree, is dependent on the intended definition of the word material. We shall seek to utilize a working definition, in which material hazard is that which would outweigh any anticipated benefits that the treatment might confer. As such, we believe that there is not material hazard in the use of intravenous iron. Before exploring the risks of iron therapy, we will begin with a brief consideration of the benefits of intravenous iron for improving the anaemia therapy of haemodialysis pa
