Synthetic erythropoietin-the kidney secretes erythropoietinthis hormone causes an increase in rbc productionsynthetic erythropoietinepoetin alfa (procrit, epogen) darbepoetin alfa (aranesp)these will be covered in depth in pharm 2- oncologyepogen is given 3 times a week- usually sq unless pt is in esrd then given through dialysis access for hemodiaysis pts 3 times per weekaranesp is given every 2 weeks to every month sqyour book says it is given until an increase in rbcs is achieved but the dose is usually adjusted to maintain a target hgb of approx 10-11 (still anemic) in renal pts. need to pay attention to the rate of rise in hgb because of the potential for cardiovascular complications (stroke and htn crisis) with rate of rise > 1 gm in 2 weeksalso need for the pt to have adequate iron stores to build the rbcs. without iron it isnt possible to build the cellsmore info on this is covered with antineoplastic meds (chapter 24)
