Optimizing the treatment of anemia in cancer patients. The role of a new erythropoietic agent.

Cancer-related anemia, in addition to having detrimental effects on quality of life and adding the risk and inconvenience of blood transfusions, may also be associated with decreased survival or time to progression. Yet despite increasing awareness of the value of treating cancer-related anemia, over 60% of US cancer patients receiving chemotherapy who have hemoglobin values below 10 g/dL are not treated for this condition. Current treatment options include red blood cell transfusions, iron supplementation for iron deficiency, or erythropoietic agents, including recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) and darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp). The articles in this supplement describe the basic scientific research and clinical development of darbepoetin alfa--another safe, effective, and approved treatment for chemotherapy-induced anemia.