Abstract
The anorexia/cachexia syndrome is one of the most common causes of death among patients with cancer and is present in 80% at death [1]. The term ‘cachexia’ derives from the Greek kakòs, which means ‘bad’, and hexis, meaning ‘condition’. The characteristic clinical picture of anorexia, tissue wasting, loss of body weight accompanied by a decrease in muscle mass and adipose tissue, and poor performance status that often precedes death has been named cancer-related anorexia/cachexia (CAC) [2] [5]. Since the 1980s, the previous concepts explaining CAC were replaced by a more complex insight, which stresses the interaction between metabolically active molecules produced by the tumour itself and the host immune response. One of the main features of the cachectic syndrome is anorexia, which may be so significant that spontaneous nutrition is totally inhibited. The pathogenesis of anorexia is most certainly multifactorial but not yet well understood.
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Keywords
- Clin Oncol
- Body Weight Loss
- Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
- Cancer Cachexia
- North Central Cancer Treatment Group
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Mantovani, G. (2006). The Current Management of Cancer Cachexia. In: Mantovani, G., et al. Cachexia and Wasting: A Modern Approach. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-0552-5_54
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