Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Clinical Oncology
  • Published:

A pilot study of megestrol acetate and ibuprofen in the treatment of cachexia in gastrointestinal cancer patients

Abstract

Advanced gastrointestinal cancer patients with weight loss and an acute-phase response (n = 15) were given megestrol acetate (480 mg day(-1)) and ibuprofen (1200 mg day(-1)) for 6 weeks. Overall, there was an increase in body weight (P = 0.01) and a reduction in C-reactive protein concentrations (P = 0.02), with no change in total body water (P = 0.24) over this period. This regimen may be an effective non-toxic treatment for cancer cachexia and is worthy of further study.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McMillan, D., O'Gorman, P., Fearon, K. et al. A pilot study of megestrol acetate and ibuprofen in the treatment of cachexia in gastrointestinal cancer patients. Br J Cancer 76, 788–790 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1997.463

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1997.463

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links