Randomized phase III clinical trial of five different arms of treatment for patients with cancer cachexia
Oncology today is sadly lacking in a focus on the entire patient being treated. Rarely do patients get even a passing mention of how lifestyle and diet will impact their recovery and long term health, despite large amounts of evidence in favor of their incorporation. There are no good reasons why this should not be incorporated–maybe the idea that the massive change in physiology induce by chemotherapy and radiation is all that’s important, and that anything else would pale in comparison. Unfortunately, this is just not true.
This is a preliminary report of a study looking at interventions designed to minimize cachexia–the devastating loss of muscle mass associated with cancer. Without muscle mass to provide amino acids, the body cannot make white blood cells and immunoglobulins to help in the battle against the cancer.