Abstract
Anemia is a common complication in the clinical course of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Low hemoglobin levels both correlate with an adverse prognosis and adversely affect the quality of life of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients. Different physiopathological phenomena may lead to anemia: marrow infiltration, hypersplenism, immune hemolysis or toxicity of chemotherapy. Treatment with human recombinant erythropoietic agents has been shown to be effective for anemia associated with different lymphoproliferative syndromes. This paper analyses the available evidence on erythropoietic agent treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia associated anemia. The comparative effect of different dosage schemes, the role of possible response-prediction factors such as the endogenous erythropoietin level and the results achieved using darbopoietin alpha are reviewed.
MeSH terms
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Anemia / drug therapy*
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Anemia / epidemiology
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Anemia / etiology
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Anemia / physiopathology
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Anemia / psychology
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Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune / etiology
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Combined Modality Therapy
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Darbepoetin alfa
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Double-Blind Method
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Erythropoietin / administration & dosage
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Erythropoietin / analogs & derivatives
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Erythropoietin / blood
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Erythropoietin / therapeutic use*
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Humans
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Hypersplenism / etiology
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Hypersplenism / radiotherapy
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Hypersplenism / surgery
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Incidence
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Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / blood*
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Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / complications
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Multicenter Studies as Topic
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Quality of Life
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Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
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Recombinant Proteins
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Splenectomy
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Splenomegaly / drug therapy
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Splenomegaly / etiology
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Splenomegaly / radiotherapy
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Splenomegaly / surgery
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Treatment Outcome
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Vidarabine / analogs & derivatives
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Vidarabine / therapeutic use
Substances
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Recombinant Proteins
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epoetin beta
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Erythropoietin
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Darbepoetin alfa
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Vidarabine
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fludarabine