Shedding new light on cancer management - a renewed focus on cancer cachexia

Malnutrition in cancer patients has been well documented and studied for the past 40 years [1]. In the landmark study by Dewys and colleagues involving over 3000 patients enrolled in Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) chemotherapy trials, moderate-to-severe weight loss was reported in 30–70% of cancer patients, with the greatest incidence found in those with solid tumors along the upper gastrointestinal tract and in the lungs [2]. Decades later, in a 2009 study by Bozzetti et al. analyzing the nutritional status of 1000 outpatients, 40% of cancer patients were observed to have lost over 10% of their body weight [3]. Cancer patients were one of the most nutritionally at-risk populations compared with other hospitalized patients [4] (Figure 1).