ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews data which delineates the prognostic effect of weight loss in cancer patients in terms of duration of survival and response to chemotherapy. It discusses the pathophysiology of weight loss in cancer patients and provides a background for understanding specific mechanisms of weight loss, such as learned food aversions and conditioned responses to therapy in cancer patients. The differences in incidence and severity of weight loss from one tumor to another may reflect differences in the natural history of the different tumors. The unfavorable non-Hodgkin's lymphoma protocal includes diffuse lymphocytic poorly differentiated, diffuse mixed, diffuse histiocytic, diffuse undifferentiated, and mycosis fungoides. The pathophysiology of weight loss in cancer patients is not entirely understood but can be explained in part by consideration of energy balance, altered carbohydrate metabolism, and altered protein metabolism.
