Rasburicase for prevention of hyperuricemia and tumor lysis syndrome.

• Hyperuricemia associated with tumor lysis syndrome is a potentially serious complication most frequently seen during chemotherapy for malignancies with large tumor burden and highly proliferative cells, such as aggressive lymphomas and leukemia.1-3 Hyperuricemia usually occurs in association with other metabolic abnormalities, including hyperphosphatemia, hyperkalemia, hypocalcemia, and azotemia, and these metabolites can in turn rapidly exceed the excretory capacity of the kidneys, resulting in renal failure and occasionally death.