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Rapid Anaemia Control with Epoetin: Results of a Swiss Survey on Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Anaemia

chemotherapy-induced anaemia can be controlled using ESAs in a routine clinical setting observing the broadest Swiss patient population possible. The aim was to monitor baseline Hb levels as well as the speed of response to ESA treatment among these patients. Moreover, we wanted to see how routine oncological practice in Switzerland at the time of survey reflected the treatment guidelines issued by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) at that time [9] and as they were amended during the survey [10] . As a consequence, inclusion and exclusion criteria were kept as unrestrictive as possible and simply reflected the currently licensed and medical insurance reimbursed indications for the use of ESA in the oncological setting. Participation in this survey was offered by the sponsor to all senior oncologists working in Switzerland. Adult patients ( 6 20 years) with histologically or cytologically documented malignancy and chemotherapy induced anaemia were surveyed at 32 Swiss clinical practice or hospital centres. A 1-page survey form was completed by the supervising oncologist or haematologist and returned by fax to the sponsor for central analysis. The survey was conducted between December 2006 and March 2008. The standard survey form recorded demographic features such as age range (20–48, 49–68, 69–88 or 1 88 Cancer-related anaemia is common. Its aetiology is multifactorial, with chemotherapy being the single most common causal factor [1] . The European Cancer Anaemia Survey reported an analysis of 15,367 patients from across 24 European countries who were evaluated for up to 6 months [2] . The prevalence of anaemia ( ! 12 g/dl) during follow-up was 68% in the total cohort (51–81% across tumour types) as compared to 75% (62–88%) in those receiving chemotherapy and 40% (27–52%) in those receiving no treatment. Overall, 39% of patients received treatment for their anaemia, most frequently with epoetin alone or in combination with iron supplementation and/or RBC transfusion (17%). These findings confirm the particular clinical impact of chemotherapy-induced anaemia in this population. Chemotherapy-induced anaemia results in fatigue and negatively impacts quality of life [3] . Correction of anaemia with erythropoietin-stimulating agent (ESA) therapy diminishes fatigue, reduces RBC transfusion requirements and improves quality of life [4–8] . ESA therapy is therefore a valid treatment option that can raise and sustain Hb concentrations in patients with chemotherapy-induced anaemia. We conducted a survey of patients across Swiss oncology and haematology institutions to determine how well Received: May 11, 2009 Accepted after revision: November 25, 2009 Published online: January 21, 2010