Body-composition changes in patients who gain weight while receiving megestrol acetate.
OBJECTIVE
Randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials have now established that megestrol acetate causes appetite stimulation and weight gain in patients with anorexia and/or cachexia. There is a paucity of available data to delineate the substance of this increased weight.


METHODS
Using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and tritiated body water methodologies, we performed body-composition measurements in 12 patients with advanced cancer before the institution of oral megestrol acetate (800 mg/d) and at subsequent 2-month intervals.


RESULTS
Seven of the 12 patients gained weight (2.1 to 16.5 kg) and had repeat body-composition measurements performed at the time of maximum weight gain. The vast majority of the gained weight was clearly from an increase in adipose tissue, while there was a suggestion that an increase in body fluid was responsible for a minority of the weight gain.


CONCLUSIONS
Megestrol acetate-induced weight gain is primarily the result of an increase in body mass.
Loprinzi
C L
CL
Division of Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905.
Schaid
D J
DJ
Dose
A M
AM
Burnham
N L
NL
Jensen
M D
MD
D000855:Anorexia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D001823:Body Composition / Q000187:drug effects*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects*; D002100:Cachexia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008535:Megestrol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019290:Megestrol Acetate; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications
D008055:Lipids; D008535:Megestrol; D019290:Megestrol Acetate