Contents:
- Medical Video: 5 Tips for Weight Loss after Thyroidectomy: What your Doctor is Missing
- What is cancer kaheksia?
- What are the symptoms of cancer kaheksia (kakeksia)?
- Does every cancer patient have kaheksia?
- What causes cancer kaheksia?
- How do you deal with this cancer kaheksia?
Medical Video: 5 Tips for Weight Loss after Thyroidectomy: What your Doctor is Missing
The weight of cancer patients who have dropped dramatically can be a side effect of the treatment and the disease itself. Kakeksia or kaheksia is the official term in the medical world to describe this cancer complication. It is estimated that half of all cancer patients eventually develop kaheksia syndrome, which is accompanied by symptoms of anorexia and loss of energy, fat tissue and skeletal muscle mass in a continuous and unintentional manner.
If a person experiences this health condition, he may experience many obstacles in his treatment and his recovery rate will become smaller. Actually, what is cancer kaheksia? Can it be prevented?
What is cancer kaheksia?
Cancer of kaheksia is a term used to describe a group of symptoms (syndromes) that arise as a result of the cancer itself or its treatment. Kakesia is characterized by weight loss, symptoms of anorexia, and continuous loss of fat cells and muscle mass over time as a response to the growth of malignant cancer cells.
In addition, cancer patients who experience kaheksia usually do not feel hungry and have no appetite at all. Therefore, this problem is notjust losing weight that can be handled by eating enough food. The problem faced by cancer patients who experience kakeksia is far more complicated. Because the condition is also characterized by systemic inflammation, loss of body protein, and energy balance.
What are the symptoms of cancer kaheksia (kakeksia)?
Some common symptoms of kakeksia are:
- Having a weight loss of more than 5% of his body weight
- Has a body fat percentage of less than 10%
- Feeling nauseous
- Feel full even though you only eat a small portion
- Having anemia
- Feel very tired and weak
- No appetite
Treatment of cancer kaheksia must be done properly. If not, this will endanger the patient's life.
Does every cancer patient have kaheksia?
One study states that 15-40% of cases of weight loss in cancer patients are caused by kaheksia. Usually this kaheksia cancer syndrome is suffered by advanced cancer patients. Six out of 10 people who experience kaheksia are people who have their cancer stage entering the advanced stage. Quite rarely found in patients with early stage cancer.
What causes cancer kaheksia?
Until now it is not known exactly what causes kaheksia as a cancer complication.However, experts argue that cancer cells that grow in the body also produce chemicals called cytokines.
This cytokine then damages the organs in the body. When the organs become damaged, the energy needs increase, but because the patient does not have appetite and no food enters, the body will take food from the remaining reserves. The longer the reserves run out, so that muscle mass and fat tissue is reduced as a substitute for emergency energy. In some cases, this drastic weight loss and loss of fat and body muscle mass causes the appearance of cancer patients to appear like a skeleton wrapped in leather.
How do you deal with this cancer kaheksia?
Because this condition is quite complicated and caused by various things, changing diet alone is not enough to overcome kaheksia. Therefore, cancer kaheksia is usually treated by giving drugs to reduce the levels of cytokines in the body, increase appetite, and make hormone levels remain normal, so as not to cause weight loss. Some types of drugs that may be given to patients with kaheksia cancer are:
- Dexamethasone
- Methylprednisolone
- Prednisone
- Dronabinol
Regular exercise can also help patients to form muscle mass again. If you want to do physical activity, usually patients will be assisted by a physiotherapist.
