USEFULNESS OF ORAL MEDROXYPROGESTERONE ACETATE IN THE MANAGEMENT OF CANCER-RELATED CACHEXIA-ANOREXIA SYNDROME

A study on the activity and tolerability of high-dose medroxyprogester one acetate in the treatment of ACS in neoplastic patients was carried out in a series of 103 patients with advanced cancer beyond cure with standard chemotherapeutic or radiotherapeutic treatments. The treatme nt plan was: medroxyprogesterone acetate (MAP) 1,000 mg/day as liquid suspension orally at a single dose, for at least one month. If there w as no improvement in body weight, SSA, performance status therapy was interrupted. An increase in body weight greater than or equal to 5%, i n SSA score greater than or equal to 2 points, in performance status a nd then in quality of life were recorded as positive MAP-related event s. Therapy-related toxicity was evaluated according to the WHO criteri a. A mean body weight increased from 63 kg recorded before therapy to 67 kg recorded after 30 days of MAP. This difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). SSA increased from baseline value of 2.4 to 4. 7, and mean performance status from 58.4 to 65. Again, these differenc e were highly significant (p<0.005 and p<0.001 respectively). The impr ovement in both mean body weight and SSA were statistically significan t independent of performance status. Data presented in the present stu dy confirm the clinical effectiveness of oral medroxy-progesterone ace tate in the management of anorexia-cachexia syndrome in patients with advanced cancer resistant to systemic chemotherapy.