No abstract

Cancer-induced cachexia remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer treatment. Cancer research and development continues at an aggressive pace and yet a degree of cancer-induced cachexia is experienced by up to 80% of advanced stage cancer patients. Unfortunately, there are no established treatment regimens for this condition. Weight loss and fatigue consistently appear in patient oncologic histories and progress notes. However, few oncologists fully understand the pathologic mechanisms causing cachexia resulting in well-meaning advice to increase caloric intake with minimal results. Our goal is to describe the pathologic basis of cancer-induced cachexia and to detail accompanying metabolic derangements. Understanding the causes of cachexia sheds light on the subsequent need for multi-modality therapy including clinical intervention with specialized nutrition support, drug therapy, lifestyle and diet changes. In addition to nutrition support modalities, practicing oncologists may prescribe medical therapies designed to increase body weight and lean body mass, including megestrol acetate, tetrahydrocannibinol, oxandrolone, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. A variety of experimental therapies are also being investigated for cancer-induced cachexia including tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors and ghrelin infusions. We review the available data to support nutrition-oriented interventions in cancer-induced cachexia, including omega-3 fatty acids, amino-acid loading/protein supplementation, parenteral and enteral nutrition support, and food-derived compounds such as curcumin, reservatrol, and pomegranate.

This article and others that focused on the clinical features, mechanisms, and epidemiology of skeletal muscle loss and wasting in chronic diseases, which include chronic kidney disease, cancer, and AIDS, were presented at a symposium entitled "Cachexia and Wasting: Recent Breakthroughs in Understanding and Opportunities for Intervention," held at Experimental Biology 2009. The clinical and anabolic efficacy of specific growth factors and anabolic steroids (eg, growth hormone, testosterone, megestrol acetate) in malnutrition and other catabolic states has been the subject of considerable research during the past several decades. Research on the effects of these agents in cachexia or wasting conditions, characterized by progressive loss of skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, focused on patients with AIDS in the early 1990s, when the devastating effects of the loss of body weight, lean body mass, and adipose tissue were recognized as contributors to these patients' mortality. These same agents have also been studied as methods to attenuate the catabolic responses observed in cancer-induced cachexia and in wasting induced by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, renal failure, and other conditions. This article provides an updated review of recent clinical trials that specifically examined the potential therapeutic roles of growth hormone, testosterone, oxandrolone, and megestrol acetate and emerging data on the orexigenic peptide ghrelin, in human cachexia and wasting.Am J Clin Nutr 2010;91(suppl):1143S-7S.

Phyllodes tumors (PT) are rare and unique in their suspected stromal and epithelial origin, and their propensity to recur despite surgical resection. Current surgical treatment of PT does not include sampling of regional lymph nodes (LNs) as malignant PT infrequently spread to LNs. We hypothesize that, because of substantial experience with common epithelial lesions of the breast, surgeons are more prone to sample LNs in PT patients. We reviewed national surgical patterns of care of axillary LN sampling for PT using the Surveillance Epidemiology & End Results (SEER) registry. SEER data for LN evaluation are available from 1988. The public-access SEER data-base was queried for patients presenting over all 17 registries between 1988 and 2003 with PT of the breast. Data were collated by type of surgery and number of LNs examined, and further analyzed by tumor size of the primary lesion where available; 1,035 cases of PT were identified for the 16-year period. Patients had a median age of 50 (range 12-96). Of the specimens with SEER grade listed, 117 were well-differentiated, 186 moderately differentiated, 79 poorly differentiated, and 132 undifferentiated; 612 (59.1%) cases had specific surgical procedures reported: 191 partial, 251 simple, 5 subcutaneous, 154 modified radical, and 6 radical mastectomies, with 5 mastectomies (NOS) documented. The remainder of cases had surgery that was coded as "undocumented" or unknown. When surveyed by LNs examined, 25.5% of patients (n=264) underwent some degree of regional lymphadenectomy; the median number of LNs examined in these patients was 7 (range 1-37). Of all PT patients, 9.0% of patients underwent axillary sampling of 10 LN or more. Only nine patients (3.4%) had positive LNs. When assessing axillary sampling rate by tumor size, smaller lesions were less likely to undergo sampling than larger lesions (19.3% for lesions <2 cm, 20.5% for lesions 2-4.9 cm, 27.9% for 5-9.9 cm); although this was nonsignificant. In spite of the lack of supporting data for LN examination axillary staging continues to be performed for many cases of PT.

This manuscript represents the consensus opinion of an expert panel based on a survey of all available medical literature. This manuscript may be used to inform the clinical decision making of physicians involved in the treatment of early-stage cervical cancer.