THE EFFECT OF ORAL DEFEROXAMINE ON IRON-ABSORPTION IN HUMANS

Acute iron overdose is a serious cause of morbidity and mortality, how ever, optimal gastric decontamination procedures in iron overdose are unclear. In order to determine the effectiveness of oral deferoxamine mesylate solution in humans to prevent the absorption of iron in acute exposures, the following prospective case control crossover study was designed. Seven informed adult human volunteers were given an oral do se of 5 mg/kg elemental iron alone in a control phase and again in an experimental phase followed by a single equimolar dose of oral buffere d deferoxamine solution. Plasma iron concentrations were determined sp ectrophotometrically for eight hours following administration of iron alone and following doses of iron with deferoxamine. There war no sign ificant difference in peak iron concentration, rime to peak iron conce ntration or area-under-the-curve between the two groups. Based on our results, equimolar doses of oral deferoxamine do not appear to decreas e the absorption of low doses of oral iron in humans.