Cancer cachexia--a clinical entity?

A number of metabolic abnormalities associated with cancer may interfere with normal starvation-adaption to alter the pattern of tissue loss in individuals with cancer. The cachexia thus produced is said to differ from simple under-nutrition and may therefore be detectable using simple clinical methods. Seven measurements commonly used for nutritional assessment were made before treatment in 72 patients with cancer and 89 patients who were undernourished but cancer-free. Body weight as a percentage of ideal weight, arm muscle circumference, triceps skinfold thickness, plasma protein, albumin and transferrin and the peripheral blood lymphocyte count did not differ significantly between the groups. If body composition in cancer cachexia differs from that found in comparable simple undernutrition then such variations are not detectable by a standard nutritional assessment.