Objective To explore the clinical characteristics of heart failure in the cancer patients caused by recombinant human interleukin-11(rhIL-11).Methods The diagnosis and treatment of a patient with heart failure caused by rhIL-11 in a Cancer Hospital was reported. The main clinical data (gender, age, disease, usage and dosage of rhIL-11, combined medication, time from rhIL-11 medication to onset of heart failure, clinical management and outcome, etc.) of this case and relevant cases collected from PubMed, Embase, CNKI, and Wanfang database (as of April 1, 2022) were summarized and analyzed.Results A total of 7 patients were enrolled in the study, including 4 males and 3 females, aged from 29 to 67 years with a median age of 58 years. There were 4 cases of leukemia, 1 case of lung cancer, 1 case of cardia cancer and 1 case of myeloid sarcoma. The dose of rhIL-11 was 3 mg·d^-1 for all 7 patients. And 3 of them had combined medication records. The time from the application of rhIL-11 to the onset of heart failure was 4~15 days, and the median occurrence time was 4 days after rhIL-11. The median cumulative dose of rhIL-11 was 9 mg. The incidence of fluid retention and pericardial effusion was 57.1% (4/7) and 14.3% (1/7), separately. The occurrence of heart failure was accompanied by fatigue, chest tightness and accelerated heart rate. Cardiac function markers showed that the level of NT proBNP or BNP increased significantly. Clinical manifestations were improved and cardiac function markers were further reduced after withdrawing rhIL-11 and symptomatic treatment.Conclusion Tumor patients of different gender and age have the possibility of heart failure when using rhIL-11. The clinical symptoms can be alleviated by treatment of heart failure timely after rhIL-11 withdrawal.