Anemia in Metastatic Solid Tumors: A Frequent and Serious Finding. Small Review of the Literature - Abstract
Anemia is a frequent debilitating problem, negatively affecting the quality of life of cancer patients. It is associated with poor prognosis and has been directly correlated with fatigue. Despite being more common in hematologic malignancies, anemia is frequently seen in solid tumors. It is multifactorial, and is caused by the cancer itself or secondary to cytotoxic treatment. Blood transfusion used to be a primary treatment of the anemia until the era of recombinant human erythropoietin. It is essential to the cytotoxic all reversible causes, as bleeding, vitamins deficiencies and especially functional iron deficiency. Here we are writing a small review concerning the anemia in metastatic solid tumors, discussing the different etiologies, how anemia affects the prognosis and quality of life, then stressing on its adequate management. Our aim is to make clinicians more aware of this serious and common finding during the course of any metastatic solid tumor in order to improve the outcome.