[Recombinant erythropoietin--a fundamental change in the treatment of anemia?]

The authors summarize in the submitted review recent findings on erythropoietin (EPO) and recombinant EPO (rHuEPO), a new therapeutic preparation which changed fundamentally the clinical picture of many diseases associated with anaemia. The authors discuss the physiology of EPO, regulation of its secretion, mechanism of action on bone marrow and its importance in the pathogenesis of polycythaemia and in particular anaemia. They emphasize in particular the use of rHuEPO in the treatment of different forms of anaemia. They analyze the pathogenesis of renal anaemia and the importance of treatment with rHuEPO for improvement of the haemogram as well as the general condition of the patients, their adaptability, improved psychic condition and reduced need of transfusions. The authors draw attention to the great importance of treatment with rHuEPO in the treatment of anaemias associated with inflammatory diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, AIDS, Crohn's disease and others), anaemia associated with malignancies, in the treatment of surgical diseases and in autotransfusions, in anaemias of premature infants and in some congenital heart diseases. The introduction of rHuEPO into the treatment of anaemia is a great advance of modern pharmacotherapy, which moreover opened new vistas on the role of anaemia in the clinical picture of many diseases.