Cetinkaya Ramazan, Odabas Ali Riza, Selcuk Yilmaz, Erman Zekai, Kaya Hasan
Department of Nephrology, Medical Faculty, University of Atatürk, Erzurum, Turkey.
South Med J. 2003 May;96(5):491-3. doi: 10.1097/01.SMJ.0000047625.99410.84.
The resistance to erythropoietin, which is used to treat normochromic, normocytic anemia in chronic renal failure, can develop in patients with conditions such as iron deficiency, aluminum toxicity, hyperparathyroidism, chronic inflammatory diseases, and primary hematological disorders. We found amyloidosis in the bone marrow of a woman without any other etiology for erythropoietin resistance who was undergoing chronic hemodialysis. Her anemia did not improve, despite 6 months of erythropoietin therapy. Bone marrow amyloidosis was found to be the reason for erythropoietin-resistant anemia in our patient with chronic renal failure and renal anemia. We present the case of bone marrow amyloidosis because it is a very rare cause of erythropoietin resistance.
