Contribution of iron deficiency to anemia in chronic renal failure.

Prevalence of iron deficiency in anemia of chronic renal failure (CRF) has long been the subject of interest, because the patients of CRF with coexistent iron deficiency anemia need to be treated with iron preparations before starting erythropoietin therapy. Prevalence of iron deficiency in CRF is higher in Indian patients as compared to the West. Diagnosis of iron deficiency in patients with CRF is difficult. Bone marrow iron which is considered to be the gold standard is a painful and invasive procedure. In the present study we used serum transferrin receptor and serum ferritin levels, since not much Indian data is available on this.