Pathophysiology and management of anemia in chronic progressive renal failure

Hypoproliferative anemia is a predictable and serious complication of progressive renal failure and contributes significantly to the overall morbidity of the uremic state. Until recently, there has been no satisfactory therapy to resolve the anemia. Now the anemia can be explicitly corrected with erythropoietin-replacement therapy, and the clinical debility generally attributable to renal insufficiency can be lessened and retarded. Anemia must no longer be regarded as an intractable consequence of the uremic syndrome and should be managed as conscientiously as the other polysystemic features of uremia.