Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (11)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bommer, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bommer, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nephrol Dial Transplant (1999) 14: 2819-2821
© 1999 European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association

Editorial Comments

Saving erythropoietin by administering L-carnitine?

Jürgen Bommer

Universitätsklinik Heidelberg, Nephrology Department, Heidelberg, Germany

Correspondence and offprint requests to: Jürgen Bommer, Department ofInternal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Bergheimer Str. 56. D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany.

Introduction

Recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEpo) is widely used for correction of anaemia in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). In some countries, the cost of rhEpo treatment accounts for up to 10% of total costs for chronic haemodialysis treatment. There is, therefore, a strong incentive to reduce the rhEpo requirement in dialysis patients by ancillary measures. Strategies with proven efficacy to reduce rhEpo requirement include: iron supplementation, subcutaneous mode of administration (compared with i.v. administration), correction of hyperparathyroidism, treatment of infections and correction of aluminium intoxication.

Several less well-proven procedures have recently been summarized by Hörl [1] among them the administration of L-carnitine. Against the above background it appears appropriate to discuss the evidence which argues for this suggestion [1].

Is L-carnitine deficiency found in patients on maintenance haemodialysis?

Whether L-carnitine deficiency exists in dialysis patients has not been established beyond doubt. In patients with preterminal renal failure, some authors have reported that serum . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Does L-carnitine affect increased erythrocyte fragility in uraemic patients?

Does administration of L-carnitine improve anaemia?

Acknowledgments

References


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Nephrol Dial TransplantHome page
S. E. Reuter, R. J. Faull, E. Ranieri, and A. M. Evans
Endogenous plasma carnitine pool composition and response to erythropoietin treatment in chronic haemodialysis patients
Nephrol. Dial. Transplant., March 1, 2009; 24(3): 990 - 996.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nephrol Dial TransplantHome page
Y. Kitamura, K. Satoh, T. Satoh, M. Takita, and A. Matsuura
Effect of L-carnitine on erythroid colony formation in mouse bone marrow cells
Nephrol. Dial. Transplant., May 1, 2005; 20(5): 981 - 984.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Am. Soc. Nephrol.Home page
J.-M. Hurot, M. Cucherat, M. Haugh, and D. Fouque
Effects of L-Carnitine Supplementation in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients: A Systematic Review
J. Am. Soc. Nephrol., March 1, 2002; 13(3): 708 - 714.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nephrol Dial TransplantHome page
P. Rodriguez-Benitez, R. Perez-Garcia, J. Arenas, F. Valderrabano, and J. Bommer
L-Carnitine in dialysis, more than a commercial affair
Nephrol. Dial. Transplant., September 1, 2000; 15(9): 1477 - 1478.
[Full Text] [PDF]