Cancer patients frequently develop anemia, either due to the cancer itself or due to chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Anemia occurs when the level of red blood cells or hemoglobin in your blood falls below normal. Hemoglobin is one of
the most important proteins in the body because it is the red-coloured part of your red blood cell that carries oxygen
from the lungs to your body's tissues. A decrease in hemoglobin or red blood cells means your body works harder to
deliver oxygen throughout the body. The extra demands placed on your body can cause excessive tiredness, or fatigue.
Cancer-related fatigue affects 78% of cancer patients, many of whom describe it as a total lack of energy. Some
60% of those patients reported that fatigue affected their lives more than cancer-related pain and said it had a negative
impact on their day-to-day activities.
Chemotherapy and Anemia
Chemotherapy is an anti-cancer drug that destroys cancer cells. Chemotherapy is one form of cancer treatment along
with surgery (removing the cancer in an operation), radiation therapy (using high-dose x-rays to kill cancer cells),
hormone therapy (using drugs to change how hormones work or removing organs that produce hormones) and biological therapy
(using the body's immune system to fight cancer). However, like many drugs, chemotherapy can induce side effects, most
commonly nausea or vomiting, loss of hair and low blood cell counts. It has been reported that more than 60% of patients
undergoing chemotherapy experience anemia as a side effect.
Chemotherapeutic agents kill all rapidly dividing cells, both cancerous and healthy. Red blood cells are made in the bone marrow. Chemotherapeutic agents can suppress the bone marrow's ability to produce new red blood cells. Certain chemotherapeutic agents are harmful to the kidneys. They can decrease the kidney's ability to produce a hormone (messenger) called erythropoietin. Your kidneys produce erythropoietin when there is a low level of oxygen in your tissues. Erythropoietin is released into your blood and travels to the bone marrow where it stimulates the production of red blood cells. If the bone marrow's ability to produce red blood sells is suppressed, due to chemotherapy or radiation, anemia will result.
Red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of the body, providing the energy needed for normal activities. When anti-cancer drugs prevent the production of red blood cells, less oxygen is delivered to the body and patients are more likely to feel the debilitating effects of fatigue.
To support normal activity in anemic patients, the heart tries to make up for the shortage of oxygen in the blood. It works harder to move your existing red blood cells more quickly and deliver oxygen faster. This increased workload can put an additional burden on the heart. Thus, you are most likely to feel the effects of anemia during any kind of physical activity.
