title: Quantification of lean tissue losses during cancer and HIV infection/AIDS.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cancer and HIV infection/AIDS are associated with an increased risk of undernutrition and cachexia. During the past decade, patients became older, frequently overweight or obese and sedentary, conditions which are likely to result in fat-free mass (FFM) loss. This review sustains the hypothesis that FFM measurement should be implemented in routine clinical practice, to optimize the management of cancer and AIDS, as well as disease-related undernutrition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Undernutrition and FFM loss are associated with worse clinical outcome and increased therapy toxicity in cancer and AIDS patients. The emergence of the concept of sarcopenic obesity in cancer patients, a condition associated with decreased survival, demonstrates the necessity to assess their body composition with easily available methods, such as dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, computerized tomography and bioelectrical impedance analysis. FFM measurement could be helpful for guiding the choice of both disease-specific and nutritional therapies and for evaluating their efficacy and putative toxicity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FFM measurement at different steps of disease course could allow improving the guidance and efficacy of both cancer and HIV/AIDS-specific and nutritional therapies. The repeated measurement of FFM could allow reducing undernutrition-related morbidity, mortality and global healthcare costs, and could improve response and tolerance towards therapy, and quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Service d'Hépato-gastro-entérologie et Assistance Nutritionnelle, UMR 1280 Physiologie des Adaptations Nutritionnelles, INRA, CRNH Nantes, IMAD, Université de Nantes, CHU Nantes, Nantes, France. ronan.thibault@chu-nantes.fr
authors.forename: Ronan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thibault
authors.forename: Noël
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cano
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pichard
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D001823:Body Composition; D001825:Body Fluid Compartments / Q000502:physiology; D002100:Cachexia / Q000150:complications*; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D006801:Humans; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000150:complications*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D011379:Prognosis; D055948:Sarcopenia / Q000209:etiology