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Preservation of muscle mass as a strategy to reduce the toxic effects of cancer chemotherapy on body composition
Purpose of review Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy often experience very debilitating side effects, including unintentional weight loss, nausea, and vomiting. Changes in body composition, specifically lean body mass (LBM), are known to have important implications for anticancer drug toxicity and cancer prognosis. Currently, chemotherapy dosing is based on calculation of body surface area, although this approximation does not take into consideration the variability in lean and adipose tissue mass. Recent findings Patients with depletion of muscle mass present higher chemotherapy-related toxicity, whereas patient...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - November 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: CACHEXIA, NUTRITION AND HYDRATION: Edited by Aminah Jatoi and Barry J.A. Laird Source Type: research

How much does reduced food intake contribute to cancer-associated weight loss?
Purpose of review An international consensus group defined cancer cachexia as a syndrome of involuntary weight loss, characterized by loss of skeletal muscle (with or without fat loss), which is driven by a variable combination of reduced food intake and altered metabolism. This review presents recent studies that evaluated the contribution of reduced food intake to cancer-associated weight loss. Recent findings Four studies examined food intake in relation to weight loss. Heterogeneity among studies rendered aggregation and interpretation of results challenging. Despite these limitations, reduced food intake had con...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - November 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: CACHEXIA, NUTRITION AND HYDRATION: Edited by Aminah Jatoi and Barry J.A. Laird Source Type: research

Targeting the divergent TGFβ superfamily cytokine MIC-1/GDF15 for therapy of anorexia/cachexia syndromes
Purpose of review To review recent finding on MIC-1/GDF15 and re-evaluate it as a potential target for the therapy of anorexia/cachexia syndromes. Recent findings MIC-1/GDF15 consistently induces anorexia/cachexia in animal models. Its actions on brainstem feeding centers leads to anorexia, inducing prolonged undernutrition and consequent loss of both lean and fat mass. Epidemiological studies by multiple groups have linked substantially elevated serum levels of this cytokine to anorexia/cachexia syndromes in diverse diseases such as cancer, chronic renal and cardiac failure, and chronic obstructive lung disease. Thes...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - November 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: CACHEXIA, NUTRITION AND HYDRATION: Edited by Aminah Jatoi and Barry J.A. Laird Source Type: research

Understanding sex differences in the regulation of cancer-induced muscle wasting
Purpose of review We highlight evidence for sexual dimorphism in preclinical and clinical studies investigating the cause and treatment of cancer cachexia. Recent findings Cancer cachexia is unintended bodyweight loss occurring with cancer, and skeletal muscle wasting is a critical predictor of negative outcomes in the cancer patient. Skeletal muscle exhibits sexual dimorphism in fiber type, function, and regeneration capacity. Sex differences have been implicated in skeletal muscle metabolism, mitochondrial function, immune response to injury, and myogenic stem cell regulation. All of these processes have the potenti...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - November 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: CACHEXIA, NUTRITION AND HYDRATION: Edited by Aminah Jatoi and Barry J.A. Laird Source Type: research

‘The shoulders, clavicles, chest and thighs melt away’: a compilation of reviews on cachexia
No abstract available (Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care)
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - November 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: CACHEXIA, NUTRITION AND HYDRATION: Edited by Aminah Jatoi and Barry J.A. Laird Source Type: research

Editorial introductions
No abstract available (Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care)
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - November 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: EDITORIAL INTRODUCTIONS Source Type: research

Exercise and movement in musculoskeletal pain: a double-edged problem
Purpose of review Exercise and movement are increasingly used in pain management and in palliative care, outside the traditional context of physical medicine and rehabilitation. This critical review aims to provide specialists in pain and palliative medicine with recent insights into the use of exercise and movement in the approach to musculoskeletal disorders when pain and disability are the major complaints. Recent findings If there is a common sense linking pain and movement in both directions, that is pain influencing movement – as a withdrawal movement or a reduction of mobility as a defense reaction – or mov...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - August 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: MUSCULOSKELETAL PROBLEMS: Edited by Roberto Casale Source Type: research

Muscle pain syndromes and fibromyalgia: the role of muscle biopsy
Purpose of review Muscle pain syndromes are extremely frequent cause of chronic disability, and a muscle biopsy is often performed to achieve a diagnosis when myalgia has a myopatic origin. Instead, the role of muscle biopsy in fibromyalgia is controversial. This review examines the reported studies with the objective to evaluate if some changes exist in the muscle, if these changes produce pain and if muscle biopsy is helpful in diagnostic flowchart of fibromyalgia. Recent findings Recent studies focused on functional side (muscle metabolism and the altered expression of proteins) hypothesize the role of peripheral f...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - August 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: MUSCULOSKELETAL PROBLEMS: Edited by Roberto Casale Source Type: research

Ultrasound imaging for sarcopenia, spasticity and painful muscle syndromes
Purpose of review On the basis of its various advantages and the relevant awareness of physicians, ultrasound imaging has overwhelmingly taken its place in the scientific arena. This is true both from the side of daily clinical applications and also from the side of research. Yet, ultrasound provides real-time (diagnostic) imaging and (interventional) guidance for a wide spectrum of muscle disorders. In this regard, this review aims to discuss the potential/actual utility of ultrasound imaging in particular muscle disorders, that is, sarcopenia, spasticity and fibromyalgia/myofascial pain syndrome. Recent findings Due...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - August 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: MUSCULOSKELETAL PROBLEMS: Edited by Roberto Casale Source Type: research

Myofascial pain: so common, and yet not understood
No abstract available (Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care)
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - August 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: MUSCULOSKELETAL PROBLEMS: Edited by Roberto Casale Source Type: research

Management of nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer
Purpose of review The widespread use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) resulted in stage migration of prostate cancer where androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is administered for biochemical recurrence in patients following primary treatment. A proportion of these patients progress to a disease state termed nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC), with a rising PSA despite ADT and without evidence of metastases on conventional imaging. We will review the treatment options in nmCRPC, especially in light of recent trials showing significant improvement in metastasis-free survival with newer agents. Re...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - August 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: RENAL AND UROLOGICAL PROBLEMS: Edited by Fred Saad Source Type: research

Prostate-specific membrane antigen for prostate cancer theranostics: from imaging to targeted therapy
Purpose of review In recent years, major advances in molecular imaging of prostate cancers (PCa) were made with the development and clinical validation of highly accurate PET tracers to stage and restage the disease. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a transmembrane protein highly expressed in PCa, and its expression has led to the development of PSMA-binding radiopharmaceuticals for molecular imaging or radioligand therapy (RLT). We herein review the recent literature published on diagnostic and therapeutic (i.e. theranostic) PSMA tracers. Recent findings Development in small PSMA-targeted molecules labele...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - August 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: RENAL AND UROLOGICAL PROBLEMS: Edited by Fred Saad Source Type: research

Local ablative stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer
Purpose of review The oligometastases is considered an intermediate state of the disease between localized and wide spread metastases. Local ablative therapy to oligometastatic prostate cancer is gaining significant traction and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is an emerging treatment modality for this patient population. In this review, we report our literature review of SBRT to prostate oligometastases. Current evidence on the role of SBRT in oligometastatic prostate cancer reported in the last 10 years was summarized. Criteria for inclusion included studies with prostate cancer only as the primary site. Recent ...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - August 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: RENAL AND UROLOGICAL PROBLEMS: Edited by Fred Saad Source Type: research

A contemporary review about the management of radiation-induced hemorrhagic cystitis
Purpose of review There are various specific therapeutic intervention available to treat hemorrhagic cystitis, once emergency treatment has been carried out. The lack of prospective studies, because of the relative rarity of this condition, makes it difficult to hierarchize the therapeutic sequence. The present review presents and summarizes the literature published on radiation-induced hemorrhagic cystitis from April 2015, date of a precedent exhaustive review, to March 2018. Recent findings During our period of interest, 13 clinical studies and two new clinical trials protocols were published. Most of the clinical s...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - August 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: RENAL AND UROLOGICAL PROBLEMS: Edited by Fred Saad Source Type: research

Relevance of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors in prostate cancer
Purpose of review Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) are approved drugs for the treatment of ovarian and breast cancer and currently under investigation for the treatment of prostate cancer and other malignancies with aberrations in homologous recombination DNA repair. This review summarizes literature published during 2017 concerning the relevance of PARPi in prostate cancer and presents new evidence on mechanisms of resistance and biomarkers of response. Recent findings The approval of several PARPi (olaparib, rucaparib, and niraparib) has driven the focus of anticancer treatment on synthetic lethality...
Source: Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care - August 2, 2018 Category: Palliative Care Tags: RENAL AND UROLOGICAL PROBLEMS: Edited by Fred Saad Source Type: research