Cancer Cachexia
About 50% of all cancer patients suffer from cachexia. Those with upper gastrointestinal and pancreatic cancers have the highest frequency of developing a cachexic symptom. This figure rises to 80% in terminal cancer patients. In addition to increasing morbidity and mortality, aggravating the side effects of chemotherapy, and reducing quality of life, cachexia is considered the immediate cause of death of a large proportion of cancer patients, ranging from 22% to 40% of the patients.
Symptoms of cancer cachexia include progressive weight loss and depletion of host reserves of adipose tissue and skeletal muscle. Cachexia should be suspected if involuntary weight loss of greater than 5% of premorbid weight occurs within a six-month period. Traditional treatment approaches, such as appetite stimulants, 5-HT3 antagonists, nutrient supplementation, and COX-2 inhibitor, have failed to demonstrate success in reversing the metabolic abnormalities seen in cancer cachexia.
Read more about this topic: Cachexia
Famous quotes containing the word cancer:
“Madness is locked beneath. It goes into tissues, is swallowed by the cells. The cells go mad. Cancer is their flag. Cancer is the growth of madness denied.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)