Hi everyone!
I have a query about this EPO being given thru IV.I know that good absorption of the drug can be achieve if it is given SQ. I am working here in Oxford,England, and i have a patient who have a calcium problem, it is low. And we are giving her one-alpha calcidol 1 mg. at the end of dialysis and that is 3x a week. PTH is high, hgb is low (8.3),albumin is low. Her doctor increase her calcichew to 2 tabs TID. She's on Iv iron forthnightly and shes due for blood transfussion on Saturday. So the main question is ,does giving EPO IV has a relation with her calcium problem? She used to have EPO SQ before. I am really confuse with this case. Actually 2 patient's of mine have the same case.
Can you please help me with this...THANKS !!1

The reason the calcium is low is because the PTH is high and this is usually from a high phos. EPO has nothing to do with calcium levels. I hope this helps??

Your patient will probably show hypo response to EPO until the Physician corrects her high PTH level. Also,remember that most of the ionized Calcium is bound to protein ( Albumen )

Nancy,
So you mean that high PTH could possibly be affecting EPO absorption,so the physician wants to correct these PTH problem first but he doesn't want to eliminate Epo totally to avoid low Hgb?