| Theme |
Trace Elements in Dialysis Treatment |
| Title |
Zinc deficiency anemia in hemodialysis patients |
| Author |
Shigeki Iwasaki |
Department of Hypertension and Nephrology, Seirei Yokohama Hospital |
| [ Summary ] |
Various types of zinc deficiency symptoms including taste abnormalities and unusual tactile sensations are recognized from clinical view points as being symptoms of zinc deficiency. The existence of zinc deficiency anemia has particularly attracted attention in recent years. The required minimum zinc amounts for dialysis patients is over 15 mg/day, more than required non-zinc deficient people. In dialysis patients, this is because absorption barriers are stronger rather than because of a lack of ingestion of zinc. For this reason, the dialysis patient needs to be recognized as comprising a high risk group of zinc deficient patients. The quantity of erythropoietin medication was clearly able to be decreased as a result of improving renal anemia by medicating for zinc deficiency. It is thought from these results that zinc deficiency is one of the causes of renal anemia with erythropoietin resistance. |