Sarcopenia , as defined by reduced muscle mass alone , was found to be very prevalent in patients with lung cancer , regardless of body mass index , and where present was associated with poorer functional status and overall survival .
The effect of nutritional supplements and ATP infusions on muscle mass showed conflicting results .
There are very limited data on the correlation between degree of sarcopenia and muscle function , which has a non-linear relationship in older non-cancer population s. CONCLUSIONS Loss of muscle mass is a significant contributor to morbidity in patients with lung cancer .
OBJECTIVES There is growing awareness of the relationship between sarcopenia ( loss of muscle mass and function ) , and outcomes in cancer , making it a potential target for future therapies .
In order to inform future research and practice , we undertook a systematic review of factors associated with loss of muscle mass , and the relationship between muscle function and muscle mass in lung cancer , a common condition associated with poor outcomes .
A placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of infliximab for cancer-associated weight loss in elderly and/or poor performance non-small cell lung cancer patients (N01C9).
PURPOSE This study tested whether infliximab , a chimeric IgG1kappa monoclonal antibody that blocks tumor necrosis factor ( TNF ) alpha , improves/stabilizes weight loss in elderly and /or poor performance status patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC ) . METHODS This double-blind trial r and omly assigned patients to infliximab/docetaxel ( n=32 ) versus placebo/docetaxel ( n=29 ) . The primary endpoint was > or = 10 % weight gain . RESULTS Groups were balanced with respect to age , number of prior chemotherapy regimens , baseline weight loss , and performance status . No patient gained > or = 10 % baseline weight , and early evidence of the lack of efficacy prompted early trial closure . Appetite improvement was negligible in both arms . However , infliximab-/docetaxel-treated patients developed greater fatigue and worse global quality of life scores . Other outcomes , such as tumor response rate ( < 10 % in both groups ) and overall survival , were not statistically different between groups . There were no statistically significant differences in adverse events , although one death was attributed to infliximab . Genotyping for the TNF alpha -238 and -308 polymorphisms revealed no clinical significance of these genotypes , as relevant to the loss of weight or appetite . CONCLUSIONS This trial closed early because infliximab did not prevent or palliate cancer-associated weight loss .  Infliximab was associated with increased fatigue and inferior global quality of life
Sarcopenia , as defined by reduced muscle mass alone , was found to be very prevalent in patients with lung cancer , regardless of body mass index , and where present was associated with poorer functional status and overall survival .
The effect of nutritional supplements and ATP infusions on muscle mass showed conflicting results .
There are very limited data on the correlation between degree of sarcopenia and muscle function , which has a non-linear relationship in older non-cancer population s. CONCLUSIONS Loss of muscle mass is a significant contributor to morbidity in patients with lung cancer .
OBJECTIVES There is growing awareness of the relationship between sarcopenia ( loss of muscle mass and function ) , and outcomes in cancer , making it a potential target for future therapies .
In order to inform future research and practice , we undertook a systematic review of factors associated with loss of muscle mass , and the relationship between muscle function and muscle mass in lung cancer , a common condition associated with poor outcomes .