Research - Wasting Disease, Cancer, Sarcopenia

Sarcopenia refers to the involuntary loss of skeletal muscle and is a predictor of physical disability/mortality. Its pathogenesis is poorly understood, although roles for altered hypoxic signaling, oxidative stress, adipokines and inflammatory mediators have been suggested. Sarcopenia also occurs upon exposure to the hypoxia of high altitude. Using data from the Caudwell Xtreme Everest expedition we therefore sought to analyze the extent of hypoxia-induced body composition changes and identify putative pathways
associated with fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) loss.

Sarcopenia is a degenerative syndrome mainly characterized by the atrophy of skeletal muscle, along with the decrease of muscle strength and function. However, there are currently few studies concerning sarcopenia in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis dialysis (MHD). This study was aimed to investigate the incidence of sarcopenia in MHD patients and its influencing factors, as well as its impact on survival risk.

The aim of this study was to assess the risk of malnutrition in hospitalized patients with three different tests and to compare these tests in terms of long hospitalization periods and sarcopenia.

Loss of muscle mass is a key characteristic of malnutrition. Bioimpedance is an available technology capable of generating measures of lean tissue at the bed-side. We compared the utility of two different bioimpedance approaches, multiple-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MF-BIA) and bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. Variables of interest were 50 kHz phase angle (PA), 200 kHz/5 kHz impedance ratio (IR), fat-free mass (FFM), total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW), and the ratio of ECW/TBW.

In patients with cirrhosis nutritional disturbances can progress to sarcopenia, worsening the disease prognosis. Phase angle (PA) may be a useful marker for sarcopenia in this clinical population reflecting the cellular integrity level. This cross-sectional and prospective study evaluated the association between low PA values and clinical/nutritional variables in cirrhosis with emphasis on sarcopenia.

A woman’s risk at birth of having ovarian cancer at some point in her lifetime is 1–1.5% and mortality due to the disease is almost 0.5%. It accounts for 3% of all cancers in females. Despite a low contributory percentage, it remains the fifth leading cause of cancer related death. This is because most ovarian cancers are detected when they have spread beyond the ovary. Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) affords an emerging opportunity to assess prognosis because of its ability to non invasively assess cell and plasma membrane structure and function by means of phase angle.

Aging patients with cancer have a higher risk of mortality and treatment-associated morbidity than younger patients. Nutrition status may play an important role in cancer mortality. We aimed to evaluate the survival time of elderly patients with colorectal cancer and its association with body mass index (BMI), the patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA), and phase angle (PA). Materials and Methods: BMI, PG-SGA, and PA were determined for all patients (n = 250) at first assessment.

Progressive loss of muscle mass is a major characteristic of cancer cachexia. Consensus definitions for cachexia provide different options to measure muscle mass. This study describes the effect of different methods to determine muscle mass on the diagnosis of cancer cachexia. In addition, the association of cachexia with other features of cachexia, quality of life, and survival was explored.

Prostate cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men worldwide. A common problem faced by both clinicians and patients is that prostate malignancy does not cause symptoms until it metastasizes or become locally
advanced. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) one of the important screening tools is controversial as its low predictive value results in high number of unnecessary prostate biopsies.

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an inherited muscle disorder characterized by slowly progressive weakness due to muscle degeneration. The Muscular Impairment Rating Scale (MIRS) is validated to assess clinical muscle severity of patients with DM1, although the scale is not sensitive enough to assess disease progression in time intervals fit for clinical trials. The aim of this study was to analyze bioelectrical whole body and arm segmental parameters in patients with DM1 to explore a correlation between bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) parameters and disease stage.