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Query: UMLS:C0015672 (fatigue)
 51,768 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

High-dose chemotherapy is increasingly accepted as a treatment approach in a number of tumour types. However, there are controversies surrounding its efficacy and there is a need to consider its safety. In view of this, much effort has been directed towards the provision of adequate supportive care strategies to prevent toxicities and to ameliorate myelosuppression. Severe anaemia and its associated symptoms, for example, fatigue can have a debilitating effect on a patient's quality of life and often necessitates red blood cell transfusions. Erythropoietin, a glycoprotein hormone which stimulates red blood cell production, has been established for the treatment of anaemia in patients with chronic renal insufficiency. It is currently approved in most countries for treating anaemia associated with cancer, and its role is emerging especially in patients undergoing high-dose chemotherapy. This paper gives an overview of the studies conducted to date with epoetin alfa (recombinant human erythropoietin) in patients receiving allogeneic and autologous bone marrow transplants or peripheral blood stem cells in conjunction with high-dose chemotherapy. In addition, there are some novel clinical applications for epoetin alfa: for example, in delayed anaemia, as a supportive strategy prior to high-dose chemotherapy and as a synergistic enhancer of blood progenitor cell mobilisation in combination with granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF).
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PMID:Haematological toxicities associated with dose-intensive chemotherapy, the role for and use of recombinant growth factors. 934 59

Erythropoietin is a hypoxia-induced hormone that is a major regulator of normal erythropoiesis. Over the last decade, the production of recombinant human erythropoietin has revolutionized the treatment of anemia associated with chronic renal failure, and has led to a greater understanding of anemia pathophysiology and to the elucidation of the interactions of erythropoietin, iron, and erythropoiesis. Anemia has been shown to be independently associated with increased mortality and disease progression. Potential survival benefits associated with correction of anemia have expanded considerably the indications of erythropoietin use in various patient populations and are leading to consideration of earlier, more aggressive treatment of mild to moderate anemia. The results of such treatment are promising in a variety of new clinical settings, including anemia associated with congestive heart failure. Furthermore, the erythropoietin receptor is widely distributed in the cardiovascular system, including endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and cardiomyocytes and preclinical studies have established erythropoietin to be a pleiotropic cytokine with anti-apoptotic activity and tissue-protective actions in the cardiovascular system, beyond correction of hemoglobin levels. Despite some potential adverse effects, such as hypertension, and the occurrence of erythropoietin resistance, early studies in heart failure patients with anemia suggest that erythropoietin therapy is safe and effective in reducing left ventricular hypertrophy, enhancing exercise performance and increasing ejection fraction. Anemia is found in about one-third of all cases of congestive heart failure (CHF). The most likely common cause is chronic renal insufficiency, which is present in about half of all CHF cases. However, anemia can occur in CHF without renal insufficiency and is likely to be due to excessive cytokine production. The anemia itself can worsen cardiac function, both because it causes cardiac stress through tachycardia and increased stroke volume, and because it can cause a reduced renal blood flow and fluid retention, adding further stress to the heart. Long-standing anemia of any cause can cause left ventricular hypertrophy, which can lead to cardiac cell death through apoptosis and worsen CHF. Therefore, a vicious circle, cardio-renal anemia syndrome, is set up wherein CHF causes anemia, and the anemia causes more CHF and both damage the kidneys worsening the anemia and the CHF further and increasing mortality. There is now evidence that early correction of the CHF anemia with subcutaneous erythropoietin and intravenous iron improves shortness of breath and fatigue, cardiac function, renal function and exercise capacity, reducing the need for hospitalization and improving quality of life. In the present review we discuss the data on current clinical use of erythropoietin in cardiovascular disease, with the main focus on the treatment of congestive heart failure, and summarize the advances and progress made in the understanding of the hematopoietic and pleiotropic effects of erythropoietin in the cardiovascular system.
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PMID:Erythropoietin in heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases: hematopoietic and pleiotropic effects. 1624 29

Hyponatremia, albeit common in chronic renal insufficiency, necessitates a detailed search of the underlying hidden causes. We report on a 67-year-old woman with chronic kidney disease (creatinine 230 micromol/L) and hypertension who suffered from general fatigue, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and abdominal fullness off and on for 6 months. Hyponatremia (plasma Na(+) 106-125 mmol/L) on 4 occasions during the past 6 months was noticed. Her extracellular volume status was apparently normal. Plasma Na(+) concentration 110 mmol/L was the most striking laboratory abnormality with mild metabolic acidosis (HCO(3)- 19.8 mmol/L). Her urine Na(+) concentration and osmolality were inappropriately high. Her hyponatremia was refractory to normal saline, hypertonic NaHCO(3) and 0.1-microg 9 alfa-fludrocortisone. Despite normal plasma cortisol and thyroid hormone concentrations, a provocation test with cosyntropin (250 microg) showed a blunted cortisol (<579 nmol/L) but intact aldosterone response. Magnetic resonance imaging of her brain displayed a normal pituitary gland and hypothalamus. A history of intermittent intravenous steroid therapy to treat her allergic rhinitis for 3 years was uncovered. Steroid supplements induced water diuresis and corrected hyponatremia to 135 mmol/L in 5 days. With nonspecific clinical symptoms, glucocorticoid insufficiency must be kept in mind as a cause of hyponatremia even in patients with impaired renal function and normal plasma cortisol concentration.
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PMID:Recurrent hyponatremia in a patient with chronic kidney disease. 1687 5

There have been case reports about adverse effects to glucose homeostasis related to gatifloxacin use. The authors report an elderly, non-diabetic patient who developed severe hyperglycemia after receiving oral gatifloxacin 400mg/d. He was a 73-year-old male, patient with a history of hypertension, cured vesical pheochromocytoma, idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, chronic renal insufficiency (baseline serum creatinine of 1.7 mg/dL), and gouty arthritis admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of acute bronchitis. Seven days after initiating gatifloxacin, his symptoms were improved. Subsequently he developed polyuria, polydipsia, and fatigue with an increase in serum creatinine to 2.8 mg/dL, and random plasma glucose levels elevated to 903 mg/dL. Gatifloxacin was stopped. Intravenous regular insulin infusion was administered. Euglycemia was achieved within 8 hours after fluid rehydration and only low dose insulin was required He maintained normal glucose levels without any antidiabetic drugs afterward. Old age and renal impairment were considered significant contributing factors for this hyperglycemic adverse event from gatifloxacin.
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PMID:Advancing age and renal impairment as important predisposing factors of gatifloxacin-induced hyperglycemia in non-diabetes patients. 1742 37

Hypogonadism is a frequent complication in patients with chronic renal insufficiency (CHRI). From a pathogenetic point of view, it is a disorder at the level of the hypothalamus caused by central inhibition of the pulsatile generation of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) and by a primary disorder of gonads. The cause of hypogonadism in dialysed patients is not completely known. The effect of inhibition of erythropoietin production is believed to be one of the factors, as well as the adverse effects of complicated therapeutic procedures and malnutrition. In men, the affection manifests itself as a disorder of sexual functions, inhibition ofspermatogenesis, premature andropause and severe fatigue syndrome. Menstruation disorders, premature menopause and anovulation cycles are frequent symptoms in dialysed women. Androgen or estrogen substitution improves the quality of life in both sexes and slows down the loss of bone mass. Complete remission of hypogonadism is obtained, in the majority of patients, by renal transplant. The overview study deals with the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of hypogonadism in dialysed patients.
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PMID:[Hypogonadism, a serious complication of chronic renal insufficiency]. 1770 31

The study included 20 patients aged 61-86 (mean 73.1 +/- 3.1) years with stage II hypertensive disease, type 2 diabetes and nephropathy with signs of grade I chronic renal insufficiency (CRI). The major parameters measured were AP, HR, laboratory characteristics of carbohydrate metabolism and renal function. Prestarium given at a dose of 4 mg BID had not only antihypertensive but also negative chronotropic effect, decreased energy consumption by myocardium, and normalized daily AP profile (24 hr AP monitoring). Adequate control of diabetes ensured close-to-normal carbohydrate metabolism. Prestarium therapy did not cause further aggravation of renal insufficiency in patients with grade I CRI, nor did it alter creatinine and urea levels.
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PMID:[Use of prestarium (perindopril) in patients with polymorbidity syndrome (AH, DM, nephropathy)]. 2001 55

We report a patient with unknown primary undifferentiated carcinoma who developed acute renal failure associated with interstitial fibrosis following pemetrexed therapy. Despite drug withdrawal, renal function remained altered and the patient experienced chronic renal insufficiency. Pemetrexed disodium (Alimta) is a multitargeted antifolate agent approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for patients diagnosed with mesothelioma and non-small cell lung cancer. This drug is almost exclusively cleared by renal excretion [1]. The most common side effects are hematologic dose-limiting toxicities and nonhematologic toxicities including fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, mucositis and rash. Although few cases of renal failure have been published, no study has reported on the renal pathological findings in this setting. We present a case of acute tubular necrosis associated with interstitial fibrosis after pemetrexed therapy.
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PMID:Acute Tubular Necrosis and Interstitial Nephritis during Pemetrexed Therapy. 2074 Jan 45