Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0006826 (cancer)
 1,092,456 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Cancer cachexia is characterized clinically by anorexia, early satiety, weight loss. anemia, and marked asthenia. The syndrome is not the result of semistarvation alone but it represents a complex metabolic problem. In the host there are abnormalities in metabolism of energy, carbohydrate, lipid and protein, in water content, in acid-base balance, in electrolyte, mineral and vitamin concentrations, alterations in the activity of host tissue enzymes and changes in endocrine homeostasis and immunologic mechanisms. The cancer initiates and contributes to the genesis of the syndrome but complications of the disease and the treatment may also play a role. Only the control of the cancer can reverse completely the syndrome. It was proposed that cancer peptides throw the host metabolism into a chaotic biochemical state by activating and inactivating host enzymes. This results in increased energy expenditure; the released host metabolites and trapped by the growing cancer.
Cancer 1979 May
PMID:Cancer cachexia. 37 4

There are many factors which are responsible for the high incidence of cachexia in human neoplasia. In this review, those considered to be of major importance are discussed. Nutritional disturbances, such as anorexia and malabsorption, are common and nutritional repletion may be beneficial to certain patients. Raised metabolic rate and energy expenditure are also encountered. Tumour cells may act as a nitrogen trap or energy sink, but the significance of these mechanisms in man is questionable. Ectopic hormone production by tumours is well established and a number of tumour-derived substances have been described which interfere with the intermediary metabolism of the host. The significance of these various substances also remains uncertain. Most experimental studies of cancer cachexia have utilized transplantable animal tumour models which bear a poor resemblance to the clinical condition. Development of more suitable models with human tumour xenografts might allow a quicker and better understanding of the aetiologies of human cancer-induced cachexia.
 ...
PMID:Cancer cachexia in man: a review. 39 80

This review examines the contributions made by anorexia, loss of taste, malabsorption and disturbances of intermediary metabolism to the cachexia of cancer. Methods of nutritional assessment are outlined and mention is made of the usefulness of nutritional support as an adjunct to anti-cancer therapies.
 ...
PMID:The cachexia of cancer. 39 13

Radiation therapy may induce anorexia with resultant weight loss and inanition that can limit the dose of radiation therapy administered. The purpose of this study was to evaluate 39 nutritionally-depleted patients who had a variety of malignant diseases treated with radiation therapy and concomitant nutritional support with intravenous hyperalimentation (IVH). The average dose of radiation delivered was 3827 rads in an average of 3.5 weeks. Ninety-five percent of the patients completed their planned course of radiation therapy and improved symptomatically. Fifty-four percent of the patients responded with a greater than 50% reduction in tumor size. Responding patients gained an average weight of 13.0 +/- 6.5 lbs. during IVH (av. 36.2 days) and radiation therapy (av. 3832 rads), whereas non-responding patients gained only 4.9 +/- 8.8 lbs. (p less than 0.001) during IVH (av. 42.8 days) and radiation therapy (av. 3819 rads). Serum albumin concentrations rose from 3.12 +/- 0.49 gm/100 ml to 3.51 +/- 0.68 gm/100 ml (p less than 0.05) during treatment in responding patients but did not rise significantly from 3.09 +/- 0.48 gm/100 ml in non-responding patients. In conclusion, IVH allowed a planned course of radiation therapy to be delivered to a group of poor-risk, malnourished cancer patients, and a positive correlation between tumor response and nutritional status was identified. Moreover, IVH was a valuable adjunct in the treatment of six patients who had enteric fistulas that originated from radiated bowel.
Cancer 1977 Feb
PMID:Intravenous hyperalimentation as an adjunct to radiation therapy. 40 85

Acute and chronic starvation is often associated with childhood cancer. Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) with 20% glucose and 3.0% amino acids, and minerals and vitamins was instituted to treat or prevent malnutrition in 41 children with cancer, ages three months to 18 years. TPN was required for anorexia, vomiting and diarrhea associated with anti-cancer therapy in 33 patients for intestinal complications or surgery in nine, and for preoperative correction of malnutrition in two. During TPN, general nutrition and appearance improved in all patients. Weight gain was noted in most. Despite gastrointestinal complications which usually require the interruption of chemotherapy and irradiation, in 21 children treatment could be continued at full dose with nutritional support by TPN. TPN was discontinued in six patients when blood cultures became positive. Sepsis was treated successfully by removal of the central venous catheter in all six and administration of antibiotics in three. No metabolic complications were noted. TPN appears to be a safe and effective means of combating the malnutrition which may occur with cancer and its therapy.
Cancer 1977 Jun
PMID:Parenteral nutritional support in children with cancer. 40 34

Protein--calorie malnutrition is the single most common secondary diagnosis in patients with cancer, and is a direct consequence of the anorexia of malignancy and altered host metabolism induced by tumor. One hundred and sixty-one cancer patients were nutritionally assessed prior to receiving oncological therapy (surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation therapy). Eighty-four percent (27/32) of the patients who were initially anergic became immunocompetent with nutritional therapy and had a mortality rate of 11% as compared to 100% mortality in the 5 patients who remained anergic throughout their hospital stay. Thirty-nine percent (14/36) of the patients initially immune competent became anergic and had a concomitant mortality rate of 50% vs. a mortality rate of only 14% in the 22 patients whose immune function was preserved (p less than 0.05). Those patients who were discharged at the completion of their therapy also exhibited a higher initial serum albumin (3.5 +/- 0.1 vs. 3.1 +/- 0.1 g/dl, p less than 0.001) and serum transferrin (149 +/- 7 vs. 125 +/- 7 mg/dl, p less than 0.05). A significant increase (p less than 0.025) occurred in serum transferrin (delta 23 +/- 9 mg/dl) after 3 or more weeks of nutritional support. The detection and treatment of protein--calorie malnutrition prior to or in conjunction with oncological therapy has been associated with a decrease in mortality rate.
Cancer 1979 May
PMID:Nutritional assessment and patient outcome during oncological therapy. 44 86

The Southwest Oncology Group has evaluated the activity of cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) at a dose of 75 mg/m2 given as an iv bolus injection every 3 weeks to 25 fully and partially evaluable patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. One complete response, two partial responses, and one improvement less than a partial response were noted. Myelosuppression, in the form of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia, was identified and seemed to be more prevalent and more severe than in previous studies. We have attributed this to the extensive prior treatments which these patients had received and to the presence of tumor-bearing marrow which was observed in some of them. The anticipated toxic effects which were noted included nausea and vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, renal injury, and hyperuricemia. The precise role of cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) in the management of human lymphomas awaits elucidation.
Cancer Treat Rep
PMID:Phase II evaluation of cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) in lymphomas: a Southwest Oncology Group Study. 49 59

Pulmonary infection with Pneumocystis carinii was detected in two aged owl monkeys (Aotus trivirgatus) and two young chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). The clinical histories of the owl monkeys were similar and included progressive weight loss, anorexia, failure to thrive, and death. One of the owl monkeys had no concurrent disease, whereas the other had been experimentally inoculated with Treponema pallidum 44 months before death. In both chimpanzees, an underlying myeloproliferative malignant neoplasm was associated with Pneumocystis infection. Pneumocystis organisms were found in alveolar spaces and alveolar lining cells by light and electron microscopy. Pathologic features of these untreated cases and a case in a chimpanzee treated with pentamidine isethionate were similar to those described in humans. To our knowledge, this is the first report of pulmonary pneumocystosis associated with death in nonhuman primates.
 ...
PMID:Pulmonary pneumocystosis in nonhuman primates. 81 79

The theory has been advanced that the anorexia of cancer is the result of anorexigenic peptides and of other intermediary metabolites produced by the cancer and the tumor-bearing host. These metabolites are the signals to peripheral receptors and to the brain centers and are responsible for the state of satiety and aversion to food. Although the only effective way to stimulate the appetite of the cancer patient is to control the cancer, efforts should be made to increase the calorie intake even in the presence of anorexia and to maintain a calorie equilibrium. However, controlled studies have not shown that forced feeding can reverse for long periods the progressive tissue wasting process or prolong the cancer patient's survival.
 ...
PMID:Why cancer patients have anorexia. 106 80

An analysis of 80 cases of malignant and benign tumors of the small intestine is presented, and major clinical features of various histologic lesions are discussed. Tumors of the small intestine are rare, and the small bowel may have intrinsic protective systems against the development of neoplasms. Gastrointestinal bleeding and symptoms of intermittent obstruction are prominent findings in patients with symptomatic benign tumors, although many benign tumors are incidental findings at operation for an unrelated disease. Benign lesions should be removed by local excision. Virtually all malignant tumors are symptomatic with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, anorexia and weight loss, and gastrointestinal bleeding being common findings. Earlier diagnosis is essential if the prognosis for patients with small intestinal malignancies is to be improved. A high degree of suspicion must be aroused with any vague, nonspecific gastrointestinal complaints in patients over 40 years of age. Exploratory celiotomy should be performed in symptomatic patients even though no abnormality may be detected on roentgenographic examination.
 ...
PMID:Tumors of the small intestine. 107 69


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>