S ince March 24, 2010, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been requiring a “Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy” (REMS) for all patients who are treated with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) (1). Although regulatory authorities elsewhere in the world have not as yet taken this approach, experience suggests that these agencies often take their cues from the FDA. Most nephrolo...

BACKGROUND Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) reduce anemia in cancer patients and may improve quality of life, but there are concerns that ESAs might increase mortality. OBJECTIVES Our objectives were to examine the effect of ESAs and identify factors that modify the effects of ESAs on overall survival, progression free survival, thromboembolic and cardiovascular events as well as need...

The ESAS will provide an opportunity to compare and contrast treatment provision with colleagues who achieve similar levels of quality outcome and there may be differences, for example, in treatment duration or levels of decalcification. All this can be achieved using the ESAS database and simple analyses. Achieving recognition in providing high quality care on your routine cases can compliment...

Epoetin beta belongs to the class of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) that are currently available to treat anemic patients receiving chemotherapy. Chemotherapy-induced anemia affects a high percentage of cancer patients and, due to its negative effects on disease outcome and the patient's quality of life, should be treated when first diagnosed. Initial trials with ESAs have shown effic...

Based on five-level rate-equation theory, we develop the laser-pulse-duration dependence of two-photon-absorption-induced singlet and triplet excited-state absorptions (ESAs). We present analytical expressions for the effective three-photon absorption coefficients caused by both singlet and triplet ESAs under the pulsed excitation on time scales from femtoseconds to microseconds. We demonstrate...

Chronic noncancer pain is a prevalent problem associated with poor quality of life. While symptom burden is frequently mentioned in the literature and clinical settings, this research highlights the considerable negative impact of chronic pain on the individual. The 15D, a measure of health-related quality of life (HRQOL), is a user-friendly tool with good psychometric properties. Using a modif...

Given the apparent presence of erythropoietin receptors (EPORs) in cancer tissues, questions have been raised about the possible influence of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) on tumor growth and proliferation. Preclinical studies of ESAs have shown no greater tumor proliferation in cell lines and no adverse effect on treatment outcomes in animal models. Furthermore, it appears that the ...

Anemia of renal disease is common and is associated with significant morbidity and death. It is mainly caused by a decrease in erythropoietin production in the kidneys and can be partially corrected with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). However, randomized controlled trials have shown that using ESAs to target normal hemoglobin levels can be harmful, and have called into question any b...