Although oral iron is generally considered the first choice in the treatment of iron deficiency, in some specific situations, parenteral iron administration is a therapeutic option that should be considered. Different to the high-molecular-weight iron dextran utilized in the eighties and remembered as a compound associated with a high risk of anaphylaxis and death, the development and marketing of newer preparations for parenteral, in particular endovenous, administration, such as iron sucrose, ferric gluconate and more recently ferric carboxymaltose, are becoming a more effective and safe therapeutic alternative, that have extended the range of indications beyond nephrology to obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, pediatrics, gastroenterology, hematology and hemotherapy. The authors review the main indications of parenteral iron treatment, analyse the drugs available for the correction of iron deficiency anemia by intravenous iron administration and propose a new strategy of diagnostic investigation, treatment and laboratory follow up of the patient with indication for this therapeutic option.
Iron deficiency; anemia, iron-deficiency; therapeutics; ferrous compounds; ferric compounds
