Anorexia and Cachexia

Excerpt

Cachexia is a significant loss of muscle and adipose tissue. It occurs in patients with advanced cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic infection including AIDS and tuberculosis, chronic heart failure, and rheumatoid arthritis. Increases in pro-inflammatory factors characterize cachexia. There is a decreased quality of life, decreased tolerance to surgical or medical interventions, and shortened survival.

The frequency and intensity of cachexia differ among cancers; patients with gastrointestinal, pancreatic, and lung cancers are more likely affected by cachexia than other tumors. By contrast, cachexia is relatively uncommon in patients with breast, sarcomas, and hematological malignancies.

Cachexia is not simple starvation where fat stores replace glucose as the primary fuel. Cancer causes a change in metabolism as opposed to an energy deficit, so conventional nutritional support is not sufficient.