Hypersensitivity from intravenous iron products

In the last several years, intravenous therapy with iron products has been more widely used. Although it has been a standard procedure in dialysis-associated anemia since the early 1990s, its use is expanding to a host of conditions associated with iron deficiency, especially young women with heavy uterine bleeding and pregnancy. Free iron is associated with unacceptable high toxicity inducing severe, hemodynamically significant symptoms. Subsequently, formulations that contain the iron as an iron carbohydrate nanoparticle have been designed. With newer formulations, including low-molecular-weight iron dextran, iron sucrose, ferric gluconate, ferumoxytol, iron isomaltoside, and ferric carboxymaltose, serious adverse events are rare.