1409 - Sarcopenia in Cancer: The Need for Collaboration Between Medical Nutrition and Rehabilitation

Saturday, October 22, 2022

8:00 AM – 9:15 AM ET

Location: 324-326

Session Director(s)

Hanna Oh, MD

Assistant Professor
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington

Disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

PDF of Slides

Faculty(s)

KM

Kerry McMillen, MS, RD, CSO, FAND

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Seattle, Washington

Disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Grigory Syrkin, MD (he/him/his)

Assistant Attending
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
BROOKLYN, New York

Disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Sarcopenia is a cancer complication that can be successfully identified and managed via a multidisciplinary approach involving rehabilitation and medical nutrition. While primary sarcopenia occurs as a result of aging, sarcopenia in cancer is driven by many factors, such as chronic cytokine-mediated inflammation, treatment effects, and disuse atrophy. Since sarcopenia adversely affects survival in oncologic population, early diagnosis and sustainable interventions are crucial. Cancer patients experience multiple barriers to physical activity participation and factors that reduce the effectiveness of an exercise program, such as inadequate energy and protein intake.

Malnutrition in oncology population is a common problem that negatively impacts quality of life, treatment toxicity and financial burden. As with functional impairments, addressing nutrition status proactively can increase the interventions' success. This session will describe the latest evidence to define, screen, diagnose and treat malnutrition and sarcopenia, as well as review the role of Registered Dietitians as an essential component of the multi-disciplinary care team to optimize nutrition status in patients across the cancer continuum. Detecting early functional decline, sarcopenia and malnutrition can be incorporated into rehabilitation consultations or clinic visits.

Learning Objectives:

Identify adverse events associated with malnutrition and sarcopenia in cancer patients.
Recall evidence-based guidelines for diagnosing malnutrition and sarcopenia.
Determine optimal time points in the oncology care continuum for dedicated RD (Registered dietician) assessment and intervention.
Choose diagnostic imaging modalities and functional assessments for sarcopenia to incorporate into clinical practice.
Prescribe a rehabilitation program to treat sarcopenia and de-conditioning associated with cancer.

Presentations:

Screening for Sarcopenia
Speaker: Hanna Oh, MD – University of Washington
Role of Medical Nutrition in Diagnosing and Treating Sarcopenia and Malnutrition
Speaker: Kerry K. McMillen, MS, RD, CSO, FAND – Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Comparing Apples to Oranges, CHEAP-O Approach to Activity Recommendations and a Few Words about *’s.
Speaker: Grigory Syrkin, MD (he/him/his) – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center