Even
though treatment of anaemia greatly improves the well being of patients with
congestive heart failure (CHF), this is often forgotten by treating physicians.
Many patients with mild CHF and most patients with moderate to severe CHF are
anaemic. As CHF progresses, anaemia becomes more severe. Correcting anaemia
results in an impressive improvement in heart function, and a striking reduction
in hospitalization.
During an open-label, uncontrolled study, medical records of 142 patients, who
attended the CHF clinic, almost 80 percent patients with severe CHF were anaemic,
while only about 10 percent of patients with mild CHF had anaemia.
For about seven months, anaemia was treated in 26 patients not benefiting from
the standard care for heart failure by weekly doses of intravenous iron and
erythropoietin, a hormone, which stimulates red blood cell production. As a
result, hospitalizations for complications due to CHF fell by 92 percent,
compared with a similar time period before the treatment. The patients were
better able to function, their left ventricular ejection fraction increased,
they required less furosemide - a diuretic, and their kidney function improved.
Hearts damaged by heart attack, or enlarged hearts, are especially sensitive to
even small drops in haemoglobin. This might explain why correcting anaemia had
such a profound effect on the patient's well being.