Anemia in cancer: some pathophysiological aspects.
More than 30% of cancer patients experience anemia and its side effect, fatigue. Its causes can be numerous, but anemia is usually secondary to an imbalance of cytokines. Among these, tumor necrosis factor-alpha seems to be the major culprit, creating anemia by blunting the physiological effect of erythropoietin. Pharmacologically increasing the erythropoietin level corrects the anemia in about half the treated patients. Several studies have shown that quality of life is substantially improved through such therapy.
Dicato
Mario
M
Haematology-Oncology, Luxembourg Medical Center, Luxembourg. dicato.mario@chl.lu
D000740:Anemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D017467:Receptors, Erythropoietin / Q000502:physiology
D017467:Receptors, Erythropoietin