Role of Intravenous Ascorbic Acid in the Management of Anemia in Hemodialysis Patients.

Introduction: Patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) suffer from functional iron deficiency where despite the presence of sufficient iron stores in the body, adequate iron is unavailable for heme synthesis. This study hypothesis was that in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD), administration of intravenous (IV) ascorbic acid (AA) exerts a good effect on the management of anemia, either by increasing the mobilization of iron from tissue stores or acting as an antioxidant to overcome the inflammatory block and increase the erythropoietin sensitivity.

Methods: Fifty patients with ESRD who were on regular HD were included in the study.