๐ค Authors: Eric J. Roeland, MD, Kari Bohlke, ScD, Vickie E. Baracos, PhD, Eduardo Bruera, MD, Egidio del Fabbro, MD, Suzanne Dixon, MPH, MS, RD, Marie Fallon, MD, Jรธrn Herrstedt, MD, DMSci, Harold Lau, MD, Mary Platek, PhD, MS, RD, Hope S. Rugo, MD, Hester H. Schnipper, LICSW, BCD, OSW-C, Thomas J. Smith, MD, Winston Tan, MD, and Charles L. Loprinzi, MD
ASCO Guidelines for the Management of Cancer Cachexia
The ASCO guideline on the management of cancer cachexia provides evidence-based recommendations for handling this complex condition in adult patients with advanced cancer. Here are the key points:
- Definition and Impact: Cancer cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome marked by significant weight loss, loss of appetite, and loss of muscle mass, severely affecting quality of life and survival rates among cancer patients.
- Interventions Assessed:
- Nutritional Interventions: While dietary counseling is suggested to help manage cachexia, the use of feeding tubes or parenteral nutrition is generally discouraged unless specific conditions justify their use.
- Pharmacologic Interventions: No single pharmacological treatment is recommended due to insufficient evidence. However, certain drugs like progesterone analogs and corticosteroids may be used short-term to help improve appetite and weight.
- Other Interventions: Interventions such as exercise are considered, but there is currently insufficient evidence to formulate a guideline recommendation.
- Research and Evidence Limitations: The guidelines acknowledge the high variability and the limited robustness of existing studies, often plagued by high dropout rates and inconsistent outcomes. This limits strong endorsements of specific treatments.
- Recommendations:
- For nutritional support, registered dietitians may provide counseling but more invasive methods like enteral feeding should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
- Pharmacologically, while certain drugs may be trialed to improve symptoms, there is no strong endorsement due to varying effectiveness and potential side effects.
- Other forms of intervention lack sufficient evidence for a formal recommendation and should ideally be pursued within clinical trials.
- Clinical and Ethical Considerations: The guideline emphasizes the importance of individualized care and the judicious use of treatments, balancing potential benefits against the risks and the patient’s overall health status.
- Future Directions: There is a call for more rigorous and well-designed studies to better understand and treat cancer cachexia, highlighting the need for consistent definitions and outcome measures to enhance research quality and applicability.
Overall, the guideline stresses a cautious and evidence-based approach, prioritizing patient-specific circumstances and the available scientific evidence while also pointing to the significant gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed through future research.
