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Weight loss and response to chemotherapy in pediatric patients with osteosarcoma

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Weight loss and malnutrition are common findings in pediatric oncology patients, but their prognostic significance is controversial. We sought to evaluate the correlation between weight loss and response to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in pediatric patients with osteosarcoma.

Procedure

All medical files of patients treated for osteosarcoma in a single pediatric haemato-oncology center between January 2011 and October 2022 were retrospectively reviewed.

Results

Sixty-three patients were suitable for study inclusion. Data on changes in their body weight between the initiation of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and local therapy (tumor resection) were extracted. Response to chemotherapy was assessed by the percentage of tumor necrosis at the time of surgery. There was a significant direct correlation between a weight loss of 3% and above and good response to chemotherapy as demonstrated by tumor necrosis above 90%.

Conclusions

Low caloric intake may imitate a caloric restriction diet that was proven to improve response to therapy in some oncological diseases. Further prospective trials are needed for the establishment of recommended caloric intake during chemotherapy in pediatric patients with osteosarcoma.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, [Y.P]. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology, Dana Children’s Hospital, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel, affiliated to the Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Yair Peled, Dror Levin, Michal Manisterski, Netania Kollander, Rachel Shukrun & Ronit Elhasid

Authors
  1. Yair Peled
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  2. Dror Levin
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  3. Michal Manisterski
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  4. Netania Kollander
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  5. Rachel Shukrun
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  6. Ronit Elhasid
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All authors contributed to the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yair Peled.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peled, Y., Levin, D., Manisterski, M. et al. Weight loss and response to chemotherapy in pediatric patients with osteosarcoma. Eur J Clin Nutr (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-024-01404-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-024-01404-0

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