Is erythropoietin safe in haemodialysis patients with multiple myeloma ?

Abstract EN

The use of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) for the treatment of anemia of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is now well established.

There have also been reports about its use in treating the anemia of other diseases including multiple myeloma (MM).

Some concern about the usage of rHuEpo in patients with MM has been raised by studies reporting worsening of myeloma activity after starting this drug.

However, other studies have reported its safety in patients with MM.

We report here a patient on maintenance haemodialysis, not known to have MM who developed symptoms related to this disease four months after starting rHuEpo.

Although we might speculate that the onset of symptoms was coincidental and not causally related to rHuEpo, we recommend close monitoring of the disease activity in patients with MM receiving rHuEpo.