Renal Anemia

This text addresses questions such as: is the nephrology community facilitating excess cardiovascular deaths in patients with kidney failure and anemia by treating to a subnormal hematocrit?; why have clinicians and nephrologists permitted health insurance companies and the government decide when anaemia therapy should begin in persons with progressive kidney failure?; is iron the only variable that can be manipulated to maximize response to recombinant erythropoietin?; are we using too much intravenous iron in kidney failure patients, and is oral iron supplementation worthless in sustaining iron stores during long-term erythropoietin treatment?; when does left ventricular hypertrophy begin to emerge in patients with progressive renal disease and is there convincing evidence that anemia is a significant cause of LVH in this setting?; is darbepoetin alfa, a long-acting erythropoietin, really superior to recombinant erythropoietin?