Prognosis and therapy approaches of cardiac cachexia.
OBJECTIVE
This review focuses on the prognostic implications and therapeutic approaches in cardiac cachexia - a syndrome that has been recognized for a long time, although it has only received increased attention lately.


RESULTS
Cardiac cachexia is a common and serious complication of chronic heart failure and associated with very poor prognosis, yet is often recognized by the clinicians only at late stage. Approximately 15% of heart failure patients will develop cardiac cachexia, defined by a 6% non-edematous, non-voluntary weight loss over a period of 6 months. Several studies have demonstrated that cardiac cachexia is a multi-factorial disease, which involves increased neurohormonal activity and immune abnormalities, resulting in hormonal and metabolic catabolic/anabolic imbalance of the body, leading to the loss of fat and lean mass and ultimately death. So far, there are no standardized therapies available for this disease.


CONCLUSIONS
Cardiac cachexia in heart failure patients is under-recognized and there is currently no causal therapy available. Several interesting treatment options exist, however, which have emerged recently, including appetite stimulants, hormones and 'classical' drugs, such as beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors.
Springer
Jochen
J
Division of Applied Cachexia Research, Center for Cardiovascular Research, Charité Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany.
Filippatos
Gerasimos
G
Akashi
Yoshihiro J
YJ
Anker
Stefan D
SD
D002100:Cachexia / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D018529:Nutritional Support; D036361:Peptide Hormones / Q000378:metabolism; D011379:Prognosis
D016207:Cytokines; D036361:Peptide Hormones