Practice Update: Oncology

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The European
Society for
Medical Oncology
2017 Congress
8–12 SEPTEMBER 2017 • MADRID, SPAIN
Nutritional Status and Treatment Response: An Update
Interview with Jann Arends MD by Jennifer N. Caudle DO
Dr. Caudle: Rao et al. are reporting an
observational study regarding pre-chemo-
therapy nutritional status and chemotherapy
response at ESMO this year. What are the
important points from this study?
Dr. Arends: Well, I think this is a very exciting
and relevant trial to show that the nutri-
tional status when taken before initiating
anti-cancer treatment is quite relevant and
prognostically important for quality of life of
these patients and for response to treat-
ment of these patients. So, this is a basic
thing that should be incorporated much
more frequently into pre-treatment assess-
ment of cancer patients.
Dr. Caudle: I think that’s a really good point,
so another observational study reported at
ESMO describes cancer cachexia, anorexia,
and sarcopenia in non-small-cell lung can-
cer patients. So what does this study add
to our understanding of cancer cachexia?
Dr. Arends: Well, there are not so many trials
looking at nutritional responses in cancer
patients, so this adds to the important fact
that this is a problem for cancer patients.
And what this group adds in really new
terms for the expert is that they show that
there may be an association or a relation-
ship between the presence or emergence
of cachexia, which is an inflammatory
state and certain molecular details of the
tumor. So, there may be a direct correla-
tion between the modifications of the tumor
and the evolution of cachexia, which may be
very important to have early diagnosis and
more care directed to these patients.
Dr. Arends is Head, GI and
Nutrition Service; Senior
Consultant, Department of
Medical Oncology, Tumor
Biology Center, Freiburg,
Germany.
Dr. Caudle is a board-
certified Family Medicine
physician and Assistant
Professor in the Department
of Family Medicine at Rowan
University-School of
Osteopathic Medicine in
Stratford, New Jersey.
There may be a direct
correlation between the
modifications of the tumor
and the evolution of cachexia,
which may be very important
to have early diagnosis and
more care directed to these
patients.
CONFERENCE COVERAGE 14
PRACTICEUPDATE ONCOLOGY