Cachexia and cancer: A clinician's view

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Abstract
The cancer-related cachexia/anorexia syndrome is not well understood. It is related to several factors like metabolic changes, tumor types, and disease extent and is frequently accompanied by decreased performance status. An important aspect of anorexia is the psychosocial problem: the patient is unable to join the family for meals precisely when he or she most needs familial support. Several random ized studies have shown that megestrol acetate, possibly in a dose-dependent fashion, can improve appetite and lead to weight gain. This effect seems to be most prevalent in pa tients with breast cancer and also occurs in the absence of a tumor response. We have retrospectively analyzed 176 pa tients with cancer types other than breast cancer who re ceived only palliative treatment. The patients were treated with megestrol acetate (160 mg tid) because they complained of anorexia. After 10 days of treatment, megestrol acetate was continued only in those patients whose appetite and/or general well-being improved. Fifty-seven patients (32%) ex perienced such an improvement and asked for continuation of therapy. Many basic questions are still unanswered; none theless, from a practical clinical view it seems worthwhile to offer anorectic patients a chance to improve, especially since side effects of megestrol acetate are absent or mild, and the distinction between responders and nonresponders can be made by 10 days of treatment.

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