Development of a Screening Tool to Detect and Stage Cachectic Cancer Patients

Development of a Screening Tool to Detect and Stage Cachectic Cancer Patients

The aim of the study is to develop a screenings tool that will enable hospital nurses to detect and stage cancer cachectic patients. The early detection and staging of cancer cachexia will assist the oncology team in providing the cachectic cancer patient tailor-made patient care.

In this cross-sectional study, the participants will complete 4 times a set of questionnaires and measurements. The data that will be collected is:

age; sex; height; weight; type of tumour; classification of malignant tumours (TNM); progression of tumour and used therapy; blood sample to analyse albumin, creatine, hemoglobin, LDH and CRP; use of parental nutrition; dietary assessment; use of nutritional supplements; Quality of Life by using the EORTC-QlQ; Subjective Global Assessment; presence of Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy; use of enteral or parenteral nutrition; body composition based on a Bio Impedance Assessment; hand grip strength and mid upper arm circumference. Based on all these data points a easy to use tool/score for a hospital setting will be created. During the first assessment the measurements will be done in the morning and the evening to test the reproducibility.

Inclusion Criteria:

• New Diagnosed Patients With Primary Head and Neck Cancer Neoplasms
• New Diagnosed Patients With Metastatic Pancreatic Neoplasms
• New Diagnosed Patients With Metastatic Colonic Neoplasms

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients With Other Primary Neoplasms
• Patients Already in Therapy
• Patients With Non-metastatic Colonic or Pancreatic Neoplasms