Data on anorexia and cachexia induced by Walker carcinoma 256 in Sprague-Dawley rats were analyzed in order to standardize an experimental model using a statistical (nondeterministical) procedure for assessing the efficacy of potential orexigenic agents. This model was characterized by a mean survival time of 14 ± 1 days and by food intake and body weight loss starting from day 6 after tumor implantation. The complex course of cachexia was characterized by reduction in the weight of gastrocnemius muscle and epididymal adipose tissue, taken as representative sites of loss of proteins and lipids.

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Both classical antidepressants and paroxetine emerge as a useful treatment in the long-term management of PDA; paroxetine appears particularly useful in PDA patients because it was significantly less likely to induce jitteriness, thereby reducing barriers to compliance.