Fatigue and exhaustion in cancer patients - Causes, diagnosis and treatment

Fatigue is a frequent symptom in tumor patients. Although the phenomenon is well known, there is no homogeneous definition. Decreased quality of life, exhaustion, fatiguability, tiredness, malaise and asthenia are synonymous or overlapping terms used for this syndrome. Validated fatigue questionnaires show that fatigue and exhaustion are prese nt ent in at least-75% of all tumor patients. Fatigue and exhaustion are en hanced; by chemo-, radiation- and immunotherapy as well as surgery. Fatigue in tumor patients has many reasons and comprises physical, mental and emot ional facets. The expression exhaustion should be applied for physical fati gue in order to differentiate this form from mental or emotional fatigue. T umor anemia, atrophy of the skeleton muscles and tumor cachexia are the dec isive factors for exhaustion. Treatmentnt of fatigue, improves quality of life in tumor patients and enha nces their compliance. This paper gives an overview about the different typ es of fatigue and demonstrates various forms of treatment.