Radioisotopic Study of Anemia in Chronic Renal Disease

The anemia accompanying chronic renal disease has been attributed primarily to a decreased total erythrocytic mass.¹Although the majority of anemic patients with chronic renal disease have azotemia, there is apparently no direct correlation between the anemia and the degree of retention of urea or any other known substance.²Measurements by means of differential agglutination and radioisotopes have shown that most patients with chronic renal disease, especially those in a relatively stable state, have erythrocytes with normal survival times. Some patients, particularly those in a terminal state, may have an increased rate of hemolysis, although it is of a degree insufficient to produce anemia if the bone marrow is capable of a normal response to the erythropoietic stimulus of the increased hemolysis.³⁻⁹The production of erythrocytes as measured with radioiron (Fe⁵⁹) appears to be decreased in chronic renal disease.¹⁰⁻¹²In the current study of both the destruction and production of