Preoperative treatment of anemic women with epoetin beta

Aim. To compare the effects of preoperative treatment with recombinant huma n erythropoietin (EPO) and iron with iron only on hemoglobin levels (Hb) in anemic women prior to hysterectomy. Methods. The study was an open-labelled randomized parallel study. Fifteen women scheduled for hysterectomy due to uterine myoma were given oral iron and EPO (NeoRecormon(R)) 4 weeks prior to surgery (group I) and 16 women we re given oral iron only (group II). Results. Group I showed a significantly greater increase in mean Hb during the pre-surgery study period compared with group II (p=0.007). Two weeks po stoperatively, however, there was no significant difference in mean Hb betw een the two groups. Conclusion. We found that a significantly greater increase in Hb was achiev ed with iron in combination with EPO, although in most cases iron only seem ed to be as efficacious as iron+EPO in correcting anemia in myoma patients pre-operatively.