How do malignant melanomas cause weight loss in cancer patients?
ByI read that one of the first signs of cancer is unexplained weight loss. However, I don’t understand how this would happen in something like skin cancer – what has a cancerous mole got to do with your weight and digestive system? Medical explanation, please!
This must be at the late stage of melanoma. Weight loss is not an early symptom/sign of this cancer.
Weight loss can be caused by eating fewer calories, using more calories, or both.
Melanoma at late stage can make chemicals that change the way the body uses certain nutrients, like protein, carbohydrates, and fat. A patient may seem to be eating enough, but the body may not be able to absorb all the nutrients from the food. Tumor selectively use more glucose, so the normal metabolism of the body is no longer there.
For many patients, the effects of cancer and cancer treatments make it hard to eat well. Anorexia and cachexia are common causes of malnutrition in cancer patients.
5 Comments
October 4th, 2011 at 12:45 am
My mother is a victim to malignant melanoma and at no point has she ever suffered weight loss due to her cancer.
This can happen due to the stress and worry, treatments etc.
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October 4th, 2011 at 1:26 am
This must be at the late stage of melanoma. Weight loss is not an early symptom/sign of this cancer.
Weight loss can be caused by eating fewer calories, using more calories, or both.
Melanoma at late stage can make chemicals that change the way the body uses certain nutrients, like protein, carbohydrates, and fat. A patient may seem to be eating enough, but the body may not be able to absorb all the nutrients from the food. Tumor selectively use more glucose, so the normal metabolism of the body is no longer there.
For many patients, the effects of cancer and cancer treatments make it hard to eat well. Anorexia and cachexia are common causes of malnutrition in cancer patients.
References :
October 4th, 2011 at 1:44 am
its mostly from the chemotherapy.
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October 4th, 2011 at 2:18 am
It wouldn’t and weight loss isn’t one of the first signs of almost any cancer.
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October 4th, 2011 at 2:54 am
Hello Staystrange,
Although weigh loss can be an early symptom of many different types of cancer, it is not usually associated with early malignant melanoma.
Usually the first symptoms of melanoma are a mole which is getting bigger, changing shape, developing an irregular border and changing colour. Moles that itch and bleed may also be melanoma. So if people have any of these symptoms they should get checked by a doctor.
A cancer does not have to be associated with the digestive system to cause weight loss. Some cancers cause complex chemical changes in the body which can lead to weight loss. It is a very complicated process and not fully understood. But research is ongoing and scientist and doctors are beginning to understand more about this.
We hope this general information is helpful. For any specific queries we recommend you seek independent professional advice. See the full Yahoo! Answers disclaimer here: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/info/disclaimer).
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