Cancer patients are at risk of becoming malnourished, both as a consequence of their illness and its treatment. Malnutrition is related to loss of weight and lean body mass, which negatively impacts the patient’s prognosis. Together with cancer specialists and academic institutions, we aim to better understand the importance of muscle mass evolution during cancer treatment and the associated impact on cancer patients.
At the annual meeting of the society of Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders (SCWD), the latest findings of a retrospective analysis of the CAIRO31 trial were presented. Two presentations showed results on muscle loss in relation to time to disease progression, survival, dose limiting toxicities and quality of life (QoL) of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients receiving palliative systemic treatment.
Clinically relevant association with Quality of Life
Jeroen Derksen from the University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMCU) presented a poster showing the association between changes in muscle mass during palliative systemic mCRC treatment and the change in several aspects of quality of life (QoL). Jeroen Derksen: “We show that patients who maintain or gain muscle mass during treatment reported a significant improvement of several aspects associated with QoL compared to patients who lost muscle mass. For global QoL – role functioning, appetite loss, and fatigue – the reported differences were so large that they were considered clinically relevant, and as such perceptible to patients. These results highlight the importance of preserving or increasing muscle mass during mCRC treatment.”
Patient-reported QoL in CAIRO3 was measured using the EORTC-QLQ-C30 (v.3). Statistically significant changes were reported for physical functioning, social functioning, pain, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, appetite loss, role functioning, and global QoL, of which the last four were also considered clinically relevant.
The importance of muscle mass was presented during a plenary session
An abstract by Sophie Kurk was selected for a plenary presentation during the Young Investigator Award Session at SCWD. Sophie Kurk presented the combined findings reported at ASCO 2017 and ESMO 2017 showing that metastatic colorectal cancer patients who lose skeletal muscle index (SMI) during palliative systemic treatment (CAP-B and CAPOX-B), show a worse prognosis as indicated by shorter overall survival and an increased risk of dose limiting toxicities during treatment.
Sophie Kurk: “During systemic cancer treatment, sarcopenia and/or the loss of muscle mass were significantly associated with an increased risk of experiencing dose limiting toxicities. The observed toxicities may contribute to the observed worse survival in this group of patients.”
Click here for Sophie Kurk’s poster ‘Impact of muscle loss and sarcopenia on dose limiting toxicities in metastatic colorectal cancer patients receiving palliative systemic treatment.’
About SCWD
The annual meeting of the society of Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders (SCWD ) was held 8 to 10 December 2017 in Rome. The SCWD 2017 Conference brings researchers and clinicians together to discuss the latest findings on cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle wasting aiming to provide practical solutions for healthcare teams worldwide.
Collaboration
The retrospective analysis of the CAIRO3 study is part of a larger project within the Utrecht Centre on Food & Health. UMCU, Utrecht University and Danone Research & Innovation are partners in this collaboration.