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. 2017 Nov;4(4):458-467.
doi: 10.1002/ehf2.12184. Epub 2017 Jul 15.

Cardiac muscle wasting in individuals with cancer cachexia

Anush Barkhudaryan  1 , Nadja Scherbakov  2   3 , Jochen Springer  4 , Wolfram Doehner  2   3   5
Affiliations

Cardiac muscle wasting in individuals with cancer cachexia

Anush Barkhudaryan et al. ESC Heart Fail. 2017 Nov.

Abstract

Aims: Cachexia is a severe complication of cancer that adversely affects the course of the disease and is associated with high rates of mortality. Patients with cancer manifest symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and impaired exercise tolerance, which are clinical signs of chronic heart failure. The aim of this study was to evaluate cardiac muscle wasting in cancer individuals.

Methods and results: We retrospectively analysed 177 individuals who died of cancer, including 58 lung, 60 pancreatic, and 59 gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, and 42 cancer-free controls who died of other, non-cardiovascular reasons. Cancer cachexia (CC) was defined based on clinical and/or pathological diagnosis, body mass index (BMI) <20.0 kg/m2 and/or oedema-free body weight loss of 5.0% during the previous year or less. The pathology reports were analysed for BMI, heart weight (HW), and left and right ventricular wall thicknesses (LVWT and RVWT, respectively). The analysis of clinical data included recording of biochemical parameters and medication data of study patients. CC was detected in 54 (30.5%) subjects. Individuals with CC had a significantly lower HW than non-cachectic subjects (363.1 ± 86.2 vs. 447.0 ± 128.9 g, P < 0.001) and control group (412.9 ± 75.8 g, P < 0.05). BMI correlated with HW in cases with GI cancer (r = 0.44, P < 0.001), lung cancer (r = 0.53, P < 0.0001), and pancreatic cancer (r = 0.39, P < 0.01).

Conclusions: Body weight loss in individuals with lung, pancreatic, and GI cancers is accompanied by a decrease in HW. In patients with CC who receive cancer treatment, screening for cardiac muscle wasting may have clinical importance.

Keywords: Cancer cachexia; Cardiac function; Heart weight; Weight loss.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of (A) heart weight, (B) relative (Rel.) heart weight, (C) left ventricular (LV) wall thickness, and (D) right ventricular (RV) wall thickness in cachectic and non‐cachectic individuals vs. controls.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Simple regression analysis of body mass index (BMI) and heart weight for (A) cancer cachectic, (B) non‐cachectic, and (C) control cases.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Simple regression analysis of body mass index (BMI) and heart weight for individuals with (A) gastrointestinal (GI) cancer, (B) lung cancer, and (C) pancreatic cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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