A randomized controlled trial assessed the outcomes of intravenous iron sucrose with that of oral ferrous fumarate in iron deficiency anemia in 112 women during 14 to 34 weeks of pregnancy. The results showed that the change in hemoglobin was higher in women who received iron sucrose than in those who were given ferrous fumarate 22 8201 8201 11.5 g L vs 12 8201 8201 9 g L . Moreover the change of serum ferritin was remarkably higher in iron sucrose group compared to ferrous fumarate group. Statistics indicated that 55 women in the iron sucrose group had an improvement in hemoglobin 20 g L in contrast to only 11 in the ferrous fumarate group and 48 of patients in iron sucrose group showed a rise in ferritin level between 51 100 ng ml in comparison to only 3.5 in ferrous fumarate group. Thus intravenous iron sucrose appears to be an effective agent for treating anemia in pregnancy or iron store depletion.