RECOMBINANT-HUMAN-ERYTHROPOIETIN IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER-RELATED ANEMIA

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of recombinant hu man erythropoietin (rh-EPO) in patients with cancer-related anaemia. T hirty-six ambulatory patients who had malignant neoplasms and haemoglo bin (Hb) values of <11 g/dl (Pretoria is 1,310 m above sea level) ente red the study. Patients with renal insufficiency, or anaemia caused by bleeding or haemolysis, and patients with iron deficiency or megalobl astic anaemia, were not entered in the study. 22IU/kg rh-EPO was given subcutaneously 3 times/week. The dose was escalated if Hb values did not rise after 4 weeks. All 36 patients were evaluable for toxicity. S ide effects ascribed to rh-EPO were pain or discomfort at the site of injection (12 patients), heart palpitations (3 patients), skin rash (2 patients) and hypertension, deep vein thrombosis, and myalgia in 1 pa tient each. Thirty of the 36 patients who entered the study were evalu able for response. There were 16 females and 14 males among the evalua ble patients. Median age was 64.5 years. Response, defined as an incre ase of Hb of at least 2 g/dl or to 12.5 g/dl, for at least 1 month, wa s documented in 12 patients. This was accompanied by an improvement in performance status and occurred within 1 month in 5 of the 12 patient s who responded. rh-EPO has a limited but measurable therapeutic value for patients with cancer-associated anaemia.