Measurement of erythropoietin in anephric children

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Abstract
Serum erythropoietin (Ep) levels were measured using a highly sensitive radioimmunoassay in 69 children undergoing chronic dialysis; 31 were anephric, whereas 38 were non-nephrectomized (nephric). Twenty-nine normal children were studied as controls. Serum Ep levels in the anephric group were much higher than anticipated (mean 19.7±1.8 mU/ml), albeit significantly lower than those measured in normal children (mean 26.2±2.4 mU/ml,PPPn=19) than anephric children on hemodialysis (HD) (15.1±2.3 mU/ml,n=12). There was no significant difference between Ep levels in anephric patients dialyzed for less than or equal to 1 year (19.6±2.0 mU/ml,n=20) compared with anephric patients dialyzed for more than 1 year (20.0±3.9 mU/ml,n=11). Although serum Ep levels showed a tendency to increase with time after nephrectomy, the mean values for 12 months (21.6±6.0) were not significantly different from each other. This demonstration of relatively normal levels of serum Ep in anephric children suggests that extrarenal sites of Ep production are able to exert a significant response to severe anemia in patients who are devoid of renal parenchyma.