EFFECT OF MEDROXYPROGESTERONE ACETATE ON THE QUALITY-OF-LIFE OF THE ONCOLOGIC PATIENT - A MULTICENTRIC COOPERATIVE STUDY

Anorexia and cachexia, major problems in patients with cancer, lead to decreased caloric intake and weight loss. Successful treatment of the se conditions has a positive effect on patients' quality of life. Amon g the pharmacologic treatments, partial effects have been observed fol lowing administration of corticosteroids, anabolizing drugs and synthe tic progestogens such as megestrol acetate and medroxyprogesterone ace tate (NIPA). The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether MPA is able to influence the quality of life of neoplastic patients underg oing different chemotherapeutic regimens and/or radiotherapy for diffe rent tumor types. A series of 279 cancer patients undergoing either ch emotherapy and/or radiotherapy treatment for different tumor types was randomly allocated to receive either MPA or no treatment. We explored the effect of MPA oral suspension at the daily dose of 1000 mg for 12 weeks (group A) or no treatment (group a). Our data show an increase of body weight in group A patients and improvement in performance stat us. The outcome of the present study strongly demonstrates that therap y with NIPA plays a fundamental role in ameliorating the complex sympt omatology of cancer patients in intermediate or advanced stage of the disease undergoing casual treatment with chemotherapy and/or radiother apy.