SERUM ERYTHROPOIETIN IN HEPATOCELLULAR-CA RCINOMA

Hemopoietic alterations may occur during tumoral diseases, determining anemia. In most cases, serum EPO levels were lower than normal values . Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most frequent malignancie s world-wide, is often characterized by mild anemia and increased seru m EPO levels. We studied 30 HCC patients and 20 healthy subjects. We f ound that HCC patients presented higher serum EPO levels than healthy controls. In HCC patients, there was a significant inverse correlation between serum EPO levels and red blood cell count or hemoglobin level s. We postulated that the elevated serum EPO levels observed in these patients may be due to reduced hepatic clearance of EPO, and to the in fluence of cytokine-mediated inflammatory factors.