Ratio of baseline erythropoietin (EPO) level and corrected reticulocyte count as an indicator for a favourable response to recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) therapy in anaemic cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE
Recently, recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) was introduced for the management of anemia in malignancy. To identify an indicator for a favourable response to rhEPO, 28 anaemic cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and treated with rhEPO were evaluated.


METHODS
Patients were classified into responder (16 of 28, 57%) and nonresponder (12 of 28, 43%) groups according to their responses to rhEPO therapy (response being defined as an increase in Hb level of > 2 g/dl from baseline without blood transfusion).


RESULTS
Treatment with rhEPO showed significant improvements in the red blood cell (RBC) count, haemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), and reticulocyte count (ret. count) after 4 weeks. Upon analysing the baseline value of the EPO level and the corrected ret.count in these two groups, we found that the ratio of the EPO level and the corrected ret.count (EPO/ret.count) demonstrated a statistical significance (P = 0.03) in the prediction of response to rhEPO therapy. This ratio showed a sensitivity of 87.5%, specificity of 66.7%, and overall accuracy of 78.6%.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggested that the baseline ratio of EPO/ret.count should be used as an indicator for a favourable response to rhEPO therapy.
Charuruks
N
N
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. ncharuruks@hotmail.com
Voravud
N
N
Limpanasithikul
W
W
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D004912:Erythrocytes; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017701:Reticulocyte Count
D006454:Hemoglobins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin