Cachexy

see also: Etymology of Cachexy

The cachexy is a major weakening of organization (weight loss, muscular Atrophie, etc), related to a very important Dénutrition. The cachexy is not a disease in itself, but the symptom of another. It can to come from Anorexia (even at a person whose weight loss is not voluntary), of a cancer (cancerous cachexy, produced by substances secreted by the tumor, the cachexines ), of chronic diseases (BPCO, cardiac failure, hepatic insufficiency, impaired renal function), even of certain infectious illness (for example the Tuberculose and the AIDS, or some autoimmune diseases).

Mechanism

The cachexy reduces the patients in a state of immobility due to the Anorexie, the Asthénie and the Anémie, but also by muscular attack by proteinic hypercatabolism and thus loss of thin Masse.

The exact mechanism by which the cachexy causes these symptoms is still badly included/understood; it is probable that the inflammatory Cytokine S, such as TNF-α (also named cachexine for this reason), the Interféron gamma (IFNγ), and the Interleukine 6 (IL-6) have a role to play there, as well as the inductive factor Protéolyse secreted by the Tumeur itself.

The patients reached of Anorexia nervosa have plasmatic high levels of Ghréline, phenomenon which one also notices at the subjects reached of cancerous cachexy.

Treatment

There does not exist treatment established for the cachexy, but rather a series of made up of which an side effect would be to slow down the cancerous cachexy, often by stimulating the appetite or increasing the muscular mass: one can in particular quote the Corticoïde S, the Stéroïde S anabolics or the acetate of megestrol. All these products or families of made up (a score) are the subject of studies on various levels but, on this date (2003), none successfully seems to have passed the testing stage of phase III (clinical trials randomized as a double blind man on broad groups).

References

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