Practice Update: Oncology

CONFERENCE COVERAGE 14

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 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.

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

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PRACTICEUPDATE ONCOLOGY