Diagnosis and outcomes of cachexia in Asia: Working Consensus Report from the Asian Working Group for Cachexia.

Chronic diseases often lead to metabolic disorders, causing anabolic resistance and increased energy consumption, which result in cachexia. Cachexia, in turn, can lead to major clinical consequences such as impaired quality of life, shortened life expectancy, and increased healthcare expenditure. Existing international diagnostic criteria for cachexia employ thresholds derived from Western populations, which may not apply to Asians due to differing body compositions.

Supportive care and symptom management in patients with advanced hematological malignancies: a literature review.

Background And Objective: Recent advances have led to cure or long-term disease control for patients with hematological malignancy (HM). Unfortunately, some of them still have poor prognoses and are often associated with significant symptom burden and poor quality of life for patients and families. These patients usually require supportive care including red blood cell and platelet transfusion, due to disease itself and the oncological treatment, apart from their symptom management.

Impact of enhanced haematology palliative care services in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukaemia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) suffer from a significant symptom burden and psychological, spiritual, social needs comparable to patients with solid metastatic malignancy. Referral to palliative care services for these haematological patients remains limited or often confined to the last days of life. We pioneered a palliative care (PC) program integrated with standard haematological care.

The effects of a family-centered psychosocial-based nutrition intervention in patients with advanced cancer: the PiCNIC2 pilot randomised controlled trial.

Background: Malnutrition in advanced cancer patients is common but limited and inconclusive data exists on the effectiveness of nutrition interventions. Feasibility and acceptability of a novel family-based nutritional psychosocial intervention were established recently. The aims of this present study were to assess the feasibility of undertaking a randomised controlled trial of the latter intervention, to pilot test outcome measures and to explore preliminary outcomes.

Cross-cultural validation of the London Handicap Scale and comparison of handicap perception between Chinese and UK populations.

Objective: To validate the London Handicap Scale on populations from diverse cultures by comparing handicap perceptions in Mainland (Sichuan) Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese and UK subjects.

Method: Utility ratings of 10 real life health scenarios were given by a group of healthy and disabled Sichuan Chinese subjects. The ratings were then correlated with published scale scores of HK and UK subjects on the same scenarios.