Every-three-week administration of darbepoetin alfa in women with chemotherapy-associated anemia

Purpose. The effectiveness of every-three-week administration of darbepoetin alfa in women with chemotherapy-associated anemia was evaluated. Methods. Women receiving chemotherapy for gynecological tumors who had a hemoglobin concentration of <10 g/dL were recruited from an obstetrics and gynecology service. Study patients received subcutaneous darbepoetin alfa 6.75 mu g/kg, followed by 4.5 mu g/kg every three weeks for a total of up to six doses. Hematopoietic response and mean changes in hemoglobin concentrations were evaluated. The Functional Assessment in Cancer Therapy-Anemia (FACT-An) survey was self-administered before and after study completion to evaluate the patients' quality of life. Results. The mean +/- S.D. age and weight for the 14 patients recruited (12 of whom were assessable) were 52.1 +/- 14 years and 64.6 +/- 19.8 kg, respectively. The mean initial and maintenance doses were 442 and 301.6 mu g, respectively. The overall hematopoietic response was 64.3%, of which 35.7% were complete and 28.6% were partial. Peak response occurred at weeks 9 and 12. The mean +/- S.D. change in hemoglobin concentration was 1.6 +/- 1.51 g/dL. Treatment failure was predicted by week 9 (n=2). Maintenance doses were withheld if a patient's hemoglobin concentration exceeded 12 g/dL (n=3). The mean +/- S.D. point differential for FACT-An pretreatment and posttreatment scores was 5.8 +/- 4.71 (n=6). Conclusion. Every-three-week administration of subcutaneous darbepoetin alfa produced a complete or partial hematopoietic response in 11 of 14 women with chemotherapy-associated anemia. A quality-of-life indicator generally improved among the 6 patients for whom posttreatment quality-of-life data were available.