Clinical study of recombinant human erythropoietin in treatment of lung cancer chemotherapy-related anemia

Objective To evaluate the effect and safety of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) in treatment of lung cancer chemotherapy-related anemia.Methods Ninety-eight lung cancer chemotherapy-related anemia patients were divided into treatment group and control group with 49 cases each by random digits table method.The patients in treatment group were given rhEPO and chalybeate.The patients in control group were merely given chalybeate.The hemoglobin (Hb),hematocrit,allogeneic blood transfusion rate and quality of life between two groups were observed and compared.Results Three cases were rejected in treatment group,and 3 cases with anergy and dizzy and 2 cases with local injection site pain and sclerosis recovered spontaneously.Hb and hematocrit showed downward trend after treatment in control group,but there was no significant differences (P ＞ 0.05).Hb and hematocfit had upgrade trend after treatment in treatment group,and there were significant differences between after 4 - 8 months treatment and before treatment (P ＜ 0.05 ).The allogeneic blood transfusion rate was 24.5％ (12/49) in control group and 6.5％ (3/46) in treatment group,and there was significant difference between two groups (P ＜ 0.05 ).The quality of life in treatment group was increased compared with that in control group.There were significant differences in the effective rate after 4 or 8 weeks treatment between two groups [52.2％(24/46) vs.6.1％(3/49) and 95.7％ (44/46) vs.20.4％ ( 10/49 )].Conclusions rhEPO is effective and safe in treatment of lung cancer chemotherapy-related anemia.rhEPO has little adverse reaction and can improve the quality of life. Key words: Lung neoplasms; Anemia; Erythropoietin,recombinant; Hemoglobins