Recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) treatment potentiates growth hormone (GH) response to growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) stimulation in hemodialysis patients.

On the basis of previously described effects of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) treatment on endocrine abnormalities present in uremia, we assessed the possible effect of treatment with rhEPO on growth hormone (GH) response to growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) in a group of uremic patients. Eight patients on maintenance hemodialysis for 12 to 228 months, not previously treated with rhEPO, were tested with 100 μg of GHRH i.v. in bolus before and after three months of rhEPO treatment (40 U/kg i.v, three times a week). Before treatment, the GH response to GHRH was characterized, in uremic patients, by remarkable differences in plasma GH values and in the pattern of response curve in single patients