B. Neri et al., EFFECT OF MEDROXYPROGESTERONE ACETATE ON THE QUALITY-OF-LIFE OF THE ONCOLOGIC PATIENT - A MULTICENTRIC COOPERATIVE STUDY, Anti-cancer drugs, 8(5), 1997, pp. 459-465
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.