H. Orbach et al., SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF PURE RED-CELL APLASIA IN SYSTEMIC LUPUS-ERYTHEMATOSUS WITH ERYTHROPOIETIN, Journal of rheumatology, 22(11), 1995, pp. 2166-2169
We describe a 32-year-old woman who developed severe anemia due to pur
e red cell aplasia in the course of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
. After failure of therapy with high doses of glucocorticoids and immu
noglobulins, and despite high levels of endogenous erythropoietin, she
was treated with human recombinant erythropoietin with dramatic and s
ustained improvement. Based on this case and on the literature review
of erythropoietin therapy in pure red cell aplasia, we suggest that er
ythropoietin should be used in SLE associated pure red cell aplasia be
fore cytotoxic therapy.