INTRODUCTION ANAEMtA IS a common cause of morbidity in cancer patients [1]. The lack of the normal feedback mechan i sm that stimulates the erythropoietic response to anaemia is one of the most interesting mechanisms implicated in the genesis of anaemia in these patients. Miller et al. [2] have demonstrated a significantly lower serum erythropoietin level in anaemic cancer patients compared to iron-deficient anaemic patients with equivalent haemoglobin values. This characteristically low erythropoietin response to anaemia in cancer patients reflects the lack of a l i nea r r e l a t i o n s h i p be t w e e n erythropoietin and haemoglobin levels in neoplastic disease. In iron deficiency or haemolytic anaemia, on the other hand, lower haemoglobin levels are directly related to higher erythropoietin levels [2]. The mildly blunted erythropoiesis found in cancer patients worsens with chemotherapy. Although the haematological toxicity of antineoplastic agents is usually more pronounced in white than in red blood cells, the nephrotoxic agent cisplatin exerts an especially toxic effect on erythropoiesis. Cisplatin-associated anaemia is generally normochromic, normocytic, with an inappropriately low reticulocyte count and a low erythropoietin response to anaemia [3,4]. Various trials have shown a greater than 2 g/dl haemoglobin drop in 9 to 40% of patients receiving a standard dose of cisplatin [5]. Although there is currently no sure relationship between cisplatin dosage and anaemia severity, cumulative dose and haemoglobin level seem to be related [6]. The present study, which is ongoing, is being conducted to establish whether or not the use of exogenous erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) in cancer patients can prevent cisplatin-induced ia t rogenic anaemia , and thereby improve this agent ' s therapeutic index.