Pharmacologic therapy for the cancer anorexia/weight loss syndrome: A data-driven, practical approach

The cancer anorexia/weight loss syndrome occurs in over 80% of patients with incurable cancer and is associated with a poor prognosis and negative effects on quality of life. Educating patients and families plays an important role in its management, and caregivers sometimes forget that in select patients who are candidates for it, antineoplastic therapy can occasionally reverse some aspects of this syndrome. Patients may also benefit from appetite stimulants such as corticosteroids and progestational agents,and this review summarizes the benefits of using these agents as well as their contraindications.