Darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp™) in children with chronic renal failure

Abstract

A dose approximating 0.5 microg/kg/week of darbepoetin effectively treats anemia in children with chronic renal failure; for many, this may be proportionately increased and injected less than once weekly.

Darbepoetin, effective treatment of anaemia in paediatric patients with chronic renal failure

“…These results extend those of recent publications where darbepoetin was found to be effective in controlling anaemia in seven children on haemodialysis [17] and in a group of 26 children across the spectrum of chronic renal failure to end-stage renal disease [18]. A decrease in the doses, together with less frequent injections, reinforces the interest of treating CRF patients with darbepoetin, owing to a parallel reduction in morbidity and care costs.…”

“…By contrast, darbepoetin alpha (DA) that has an increased sialic acid carbohydrate content promotes decreased clearance and has a longer serum halflife than r-HuEPO [12][13][14], allowing a single weekly administration. Previous studies showed a similar potent effect of darbepoetin in adult as well as in paediatric patients either in pre-dialysis chronic renal failure or in end stage renal failure [8,[14][15][16][17][18][19]. The present study aims to determine the mean dose of darbepoetin necessary to achieve and maintain haemoglobin levels between 11.0 g/dl and 13.0 g/dl in CRF patients aged from 11 years to 18 years.…”

Comparison of recombinant human erythropoietin and darbepoetin alpha in children

“…8,17 The most commonly reported side-effects related to use of DA are hypertension, infection, hypotension, myalgia, headache, diarrhea and injection pain. 12,14,15 We observed a short-term, high SBP in only one patient in the DA group. We did not initiate any medication because the patient's BP had normalized during follow-up.…”

Erythropoetin in der pädiatrischen Nephrologie

“…Gegenwärtig stehen an Substanzen rekombinantes humanes Erythropoetin (rhuEPO-α und rhuEPO-β) und Darbepoetin α zur Verfügung. Die Anwendung von Letzterem wird laut Fachinformation derzeit erst ab 11 Jahren empfohlen, es gibt jedoch bereits Literaturberichte über den Einsatz bei kleineren Kindern und Säuglingen [6,10]. Alle Präpa-rate können s.c. oder i.v.…”