Abstract
Introduction: Malignancy is one of the causes of anemia in chronic diseases. Anemia can commonly complicate the malignancy process. Objectives: This study aimed to compare improvement in the quality of life and hemoglobin levels between cancer patients with chemotherapy-related anemia receiving erythropoietin and injectable iron supplement versus patients receiving erythropoietin and oral iron supplement. Patients and Methods: This investigation was a randomized clinical trial carried out on 79 anemic individuals with metastatic and non-metastatic carcinoma who were undergoing chemotherapy. Individuals included in the study were randomly assigned to the two groups. The first group received erythropoietin and Venofer while the second group received erythropoietin and ferrous sulfate for 6 weeks. The quality of life for patients was assessed using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). Results: Hemoglobin levels in both groups increased significantly while the difference between them was not significant. Despite improvement in more indexes of the questionnaire, post-treatment quality of life in both groups had no significant statistical difference (P>0.05). The changes in indices after interventions showed no difference between the oral and injectable iron supplements groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that administration of erythropoietin and iron supplements, either orally or intravenously, even with a shorter duration of treatment could increase hemoglobin levels in chemotherapy-induced anemia group, however to improve the quality of life, it may be necessary to employ larger sample sizes and prolong treatment courses. Trial registration: This randomized controlled trial was registered in the Thai Clinical Trials Registry (identifier: TCTR20200915003; http://www.clinicaltrials.in.th).
Highlights
Malignancy is one of the causes of anemia in chronic diseases
Several factors involved in the development of anemia in the patients with malignancy such as abnormal metabolism of iron, or iron trapping in the macrophages, the inability to increase erythropoietin in response to anemia, a relative decrease in erythropoietin production, inflammation associated with the disease, myelosuppressive chemotherapy of malignancies, and other causes consisting of gastrointestinal bleeding, iron, folate and cobalamin deficiency [5,6,7,8]
In a randomized clinical trial carried out on 79 anemic individuals with metastatic and non-metastatic carcinoma who were undergoing chemotherapy, we found that the changes in indices after interventions showed no difference between the oral and injectable iron supplements groups
Summary
Malignancy is one of the causes of anemia in chronic diseases. Anemia can commonly complicate the malignancy process. Objectives: This study aimed to compare improvement in the quality of life and hemoglobin levels between cancer patients with chemotherapy-related anemia receiving erythropoietin and injectable iron supplement versus patients receiving erythropoietin and oral iron supplement. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that administration of erythropoietin and iron supplements, either orally or intravenously, even with a shorter duration of treatment could increase hemoglobin levels in chemotherapy-induced anemia group, to improve the quality of life, it may be necessary to employ larger sample sizes and prolong treatment courses. Several factors involved in the development of anemia in the patients with malignancy such as abnormal metabolism of iron, or iron trapping in the macrophages, the inability to increase erythropoietin in response to anemia, a relative decrease in erythropoietin production, inflammation associated with the disease, myelosuppressive chemotherapy of malignancies, and other causes consisting of gastrointestinal bleeding, iron, folate and cobalamin deficiency [5,6,7,8]. Some types of malignancies respond well to oral iron, it is still not proven that this treatment is effective enough in the patients receiving erythropoietin stimulating agents
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
