Erythropoiesis in patients with renal failure undergoing chronic dialysis.

Abstract

THE anemia of renal insufficiency is associated with both increased red-cell destruction and impaired erythropoietic response to anemia. Variations in the relative importance of these 2 mechanisms and in the degree of the anemia observed may be due, at least in part, to the severity of renal disease in the patients studied. The purpose of the present report is to characterize red-cell production and destruction in a special group of patients with severe renal failure who have been stabilized at a similar degree of azotemia by repeated dialysis. An additional finding emerging from this study is the improvement in erythroid . . .