ABC of palliative care. Anorexia, cachexia, and nutrition.

Cachexia is a complex syndrome that combines weight loss, lipolysis, loss of muscle and visceral protein, anorexia, chronic nausea, and weakness. Severe cachexia occurs in most patients with advanced cancer or AIDS. This article covers approaches to cachexia other than treatment of the underlying disease. In those patients who are eligible for tumouricidal treatment, cachexia may resolve as the disease responds. When faced with a cachectic patient, the clinician may approach the problem with four questions: x Does the patient have cachexia? x Why is the patient cachectic? x Which treatments are effective? x How should treatment be individualised?