Biomedical subjects

H I Karlberg

Publications and source records attributed to H I Karlberg.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1983

Albumin turnover in sarcoma-bearing rats in relation to cancer anorexia.

Hypoalbuminemia, a frequent finding in cancer patients, can be demonstrated in the tumor-bearing rat. In actuality, the circulating amount of albumin is maintained in tumor-bearing rats, although total body water and plasma volume are increased. The fractional degradation rate of newly synthesized albumin labelled by the injection of carbon-14-carbonate was significantly increased in tumor-bearing rats (half-life 55 hours) as compared with control rats (half-life 85 hours). These findings indicate maintained synthesis of albumin in the tumor-bearing rats, a finding consistent with an increased ratio of specific activity in albumin to that in plasma urea after the injection of carbon-14-carbonate. Hypoalbuminemia in cancer seems to be the net result of an increased turnover rate of albumin and dilution of the maintained albumin mass. Despite the presence of cancer anorexia, the flux of substrates from the degradation of peripheral tissues is sufficient to supply the liver and, in turn, to enable an increased protein synthesis with maintenance of the synthetic rate of albumin.

Albumins↗

PubMed1982

Hyperalimentation in cancer.

A growing body of work has been addressed to the hypothesis that because patients with cancer who have poor nutritional status have a worse prognosis, increased nutritional support in these patients will result in better tolerance of surgical interventions, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and a better outcome from the cancer. Although the hypothesis is an attractive one, there is only a single well-conducted, randomized, prospective trial to date that shows that active nutritional support is of benefit in the therapy of patients with cancer. Based on this review of the literature, it is felt that though cachexia is clearly of negative import in patients with cancer, there is little evidence to support the hypotheses that any nutritional support changes the outcome or the course of therapy of patients with cancer. It seems reasonable to continue the nutritional support to cachectic patients with cancer concomitant with specific anticancer therapy, but supportive nutritional therapy alone with postponement of specific anticancer treatment, as in awaiting weight gain or anabolism, cannot be justified with the current state of the art.

Cachexia↗