Current concepts in cancer: effects of cancer and cancer treatment on the nutrition of the host

Journal Article · Thu Jun 28 04:00:00 EDT 1979 · New Engl. J. Med.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM197906283002606· OSTI ID:5915846

Costa, G; Donaldson, S S

The growth of cancer in man leads to destruction of tissues and alterations of functions. The consequences of this process, culminating in overt cachexia and death, are so varied that cancer has replaced syphilis as the great imitator. Many of the manifestations of cachexia (weakness, anorexia, depletion and translocation of host component, and loss of immunocompetence) resemble malnutrition and are accountable for, in many patients, by poor nutritional intake, neoplastic invasion of the gastrointestinal tract or creation by the tumor of abnormal routes through which nutrients can be lost. The development of cachexia, nevertheless, bears no simple relation to caloric intake, tumor burden, tumor cell type or anatomic site of involvement. Indeed, it has long been apparent that, in many patients succumbing to cancer, if the same lesions were composed of scar tissue rather than neoplastic cells, the affected individuals might not only be alive but in reasonably good health. Distant metabolic effects of cancers have therefore come into focus, are well documented and are known collectively as paraneoplastic syndromes. They imply release by the tumor of chemically identifiable toxic mediators. Recently, a third mechanism has been recognized as an important determinant of cachexia and malnutrition: cancer treatment. As our tools have become more powerful and our philosophies more agressive,the effects of therapy on normal cell populations have become visible. The present paper discusses the most important manifestations of cachexia that resemble malnutrition. Technics of nutritional assessment and intervention that have proved successful in patients with cancer are also briefly discussed.

• Research Organization: State Univ. of New York, Buffalo
• OSTI ID: 5915846
• Journal Information: New Engl. J. Med.; (United States), Journal Name: New Engl. J. Med.; (United States) Vol. 300:26; ISSN NEJMA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550900* -- Pathology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ANIMAL CELLS
ANTIGENS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
DISEASES
GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT
METABOLISM
NEOPLASMS
NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCY
PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES
SYMPTOMS
THERAPY
TOXIC MATERIALS
TOXINS
TUMOR CELLS