Effects of a Pragmatic Home-based Exercise Program Concurrent With Neoadjuvant Therapy on Physical Function of Patients With Pancreatic Cancer: The PancFit Randomized Clinical Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of a preoperative, home-based exercise program on fitness and physical function in patients with pancreatic cancer. BACKGROUND: We previously established a well-tolerated preoperative exercise program after finding a high frequency of sarcopenia and frailty in patients with pancreatic cancer. METHODS: In this randomized, controlled trial (NCT03187951), patients with pancreatic cancer were randomized to Arm A: enhanced usual care or Arm B: prescribed aerobic and resistance exercise during neoadjuvant therapy. Patients received nutrition counseling and activity trackers. The primary endpoint was a 6-minute walk distance (6MWD; ≥14 meters improvement was clinically meaningful). Secondary endpoints included additional physical function tests, health-related quality of life, and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: One hundred fifty-one patients were randomized. Objectively measured weekly activity (153.2±135.6 and 159.8±122.8 min in Arm A and B, respectively, P =0.62) and self-reported weekly moderate-to-strenuous physical activity (107.4±160.4 and 129.6±161.6 min in Arm A and Arm B, respectively, P =0.49) were similar, but weekly strength training sessions increased more in Arm B (by 1.8±1.8 vs 0.1±2.4 sessions, P <0.001). 6MWD improved in both Arm A (mean change 18.6±56.8 m, P =0.01) and Arm B (27.3±68.1 m, P =0.002). Quality of life and clinical outcomes did not significantly differ between arms. Pooling patients in both study groups, exercise, and physical activity was favorably associated with physical performance and clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: In this randomized trial of prescribed exercise versus enhanced usual care during neoadjuvant therapy for pancreatic cancer, a high volume of physical activity and increased exercise capacity were observed in both arms, highlighting the importance of activity among patients preparing for surgery.

Dietary patterns in patients with advanced cancer: implications for anorexia-cachexia therapy.

BACKGROUND: Severe malnutrition and wasting are considered hallmarks of advanced malignant disease, and clinical research into anorexia-cachexia therapy and nutritional support for cancer patients is ongoing. However, information on typical dietary intakes and food choices for this population is notably lacking; proposed therapies for anorexia and wasting are not framed within the context of current intake. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to characterize the food intake patterns of patients with advanced cancer. DESIGN: Patients with advanced cancer (n = 151) recruited from a regional cancer center and palliative-care program completed a 3-d dietary record a mean (+/-SD) 8 +/- 7 mo before death. Food items were categorized according to macronutrient content and dietary use and subsequently entered into cluster analysis. RESULTS: Wide variations in intakes of energy (range: 4-53 kcal . kg body wt(-1) . d(-1); x +/- SD: 25.1 +/- 10.0 kcal . kg body wt(-1) . d(-1)) and protein (range: 0.2-2.7 g . kg body wt(-1) . d(-1); x +/- SD: 1.0 +/- 0.4 g . kg body wt(-1) . d(-1)) were observed. Even the subjects with the highest intakes had a recent history of weight loss, which suggests that the diets of those persons were consistently inadequate for weight maintenance. Cluster analysis found 3 dietary patterns that differed in food choice and caloric intake. Low intakes and a high risk of weight loss were associated with decreased frequency of eating and dietary profiles with little variety and unusually high proportions of liquids. CONCLUSION: These data provide a glimpse into dietary habits toward the end of life. Unique dietary patterns were found in this nutritionally vulnerable patient population.

Improvement in sexual function after reduction of chronic high-dose opioid medication in a cancer survivor.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate improvement in sexual function after reduction of opioids. METHODS: This was a retrospective examination of a single patient at the cancer pain management clinic at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. The patient was a 58-year-old male, free of cancer for 12 years, with chronic low back pain from a prior retroperitoneal mass. Changes in scores from the Brief Male Sexual Inventory and visual analog scale pain questionnaires were used to evaluate the patient. RESULTS: In this patient, a decrease in morphine-equivalent daily dose from 690 mg to 20 mg resulted in a significant increase in sexual function. Sexual inventory scores increased from 4 to 43. CONCLUSIONS: Reduction in opioid consumption can dramatically increase libido and sexual function. A possible mechanism involves opioid-related effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis.

Update on anorexia and cachexia.

Declining physical, emotional, and social function as a result of anorexia and cachexia are considerable contributors to discomfort for cancer patients and their families, and they impair the patient's ability to express optimal physical and psychosocial potential as long as possible. This decline no longer has to be accepted as an indispensable sequel to advanced cancer, just as pain is no longer considered to be unavoidable. A routine screening for anorexia and cachexia and associated symptoms is necessary, as is a careful, comprehensive assessment, because the condition is not always obvious. Decisions about anorexia and cachexia treatment are guided by prioritizing the different, concurrent physical, psychosocial, and existential problems and by considering the natural course of the cancer and the effects of antineoplastic therapies. Reversible causes for anorexia and cachexia need to be identified and treated, if appropriate. Nutritional interventions are often indicated; patients with a predominant starvation component and without inflammation may profit the most. New pharmacologic therapies for primary anorexia and cachexia syndrome are expected to enter clinical practice soon; however, until then, treatment with corticosteroids, progestins, or prokinetics may be indicated for some patients. To understand a multicausal syndrome, multimodal and interdisciplinary therapy is required. Specialist palliative care services can be helpful to provide, hand-in-hand with the disease specialists [172], assessment and management of psychophysical symptoms and sociospiritual needs of patients during the course of the illness and at the end of life [173]. Research efforts aim to better characterize subgroups of patients suffering from secondary causes of anorexia and cachexia and to elucidate the mechanisms involved in the primary anorexia and cachexia syndrome. Increasingly individualized treatments are expected with combination treatments that involve different mechanisms including nutrition.

Delirium in patients with advanced cancer.

Managing delirium is of major importance in end-of-life care and frequently gives rise to controversies and to clinical and ethical dilemmas. These problems arise from a number of causes, including the sometimes-poor recognition or misdiagnosis of delirium despite its frequent occurrence. Delirium generates major symptomatic of distress for the patient, consequent stress for the patient's family, the potential to misinterpret delirium symptomatology, and behavioral management challenges for health care professionals. Paradoxically, delirium is potentially reversible in some episodes, but in many patients delirium presents a nonreversible terminal episode. Greater educational efforts are required to improve the recognition of delirium and lead to a better understanding of its impact in end-of-life care. Future research might focus on phenomenology, the development of low-burden instruments for assessment, communication strategies, and the family education regarding the manifestations of delirium. Further research is needed among patients with advanced cancer to establish a predictive model for reversibility that recognizes both baseline vulnerability factors and superimposed precipitating factors. Evidence-based guidelines should be developed to assist physicians in more appropriate use of sedation in the symptomatic management of delirium.