Cancer Cachexia Syndrome

 

Synonym: cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome, CACS, cancer wasting syndrome

 

Patient selection: advanced cancer

 

Clinical features:

(1) anorexia or early satiety with or without changes in taste

(2) unintended weight loss

(3) muscle loss (sarcopenia)

(4) loss of body fat

(5) systemic symptoms such as fatigue and/or evidence of systemic inflammation (elevated C-reactive protein, elevated serum cytokines)

 

where:

• In pure starvation body fat is depleted while there is relative preservation of skeletal muscle.

 

Fearon et al used 3 factors to identify a patient with cancer cachexia:

(1) weight loss > 10%

(2) low food intake (<= 1,500 kcal per day)

(3) elevated CRP >= 10 mg/L