Deficitul de fier şi cancerul – implicaţii clinice

Anemia is a frequent complication in oncologic patients, being encountered both at the moment of cancer diagnosis and during different oncologic therapies. The presence of anemia, regardless of the cause or mechanism, in oncologic patients adversely affects the quality of life, the outcome of the neoplastic disease and the adherence to treatment. The mechanisms involved in the appearance of anemia in oncologic patients are intricated. Iron deficiency is a frequent cause of anemia in oncologic patients. This de­fi­cien­cy is noticed in approximately 50% of patients with solid and hematological tumors. In oncologic patients, the pre­va­lent mechanism for iron deficiency is the functional mechanism. In this case, the iron stores are reduced due to the underlying oncologic condition or due to inflammatory processes associated to cancer treatments. Iron deficiency in cancer patients is often underestimated, mainly due to the difficulty of defining iron deficiency on the basis of usual laboratory markers. The current therapeutic options of cancer anemia include blood transfusions, iron substitution and erythropoietin-stimulating agents.