Session number: 106000
Session title: Treatment of chachectic patients: translation from bench to bedside
Authors: Piepoli, M. Piacenza, Italy
A quite busy symposium this afternoon gathered specialists on cachexia in heart failure.
They faced an important and challenging issue, ie. the possibility to change the ominous prognosis of these patients. Unfortunately the comments seemed mainly negative.
Stefan Von Healing (London) confirmed the increased incidence and mortality of this growing clinical state.
Conraads (Edegem) elegantly reviewed the biochemical and molecular changes which determines the development of cachexia.
Stefan Anker (Berlin), chairman and speaker of the session, master in this field, reviewed the several approaches that attempted to reverse the progression of this condition acting as anti-inflammatory and metabolic agents.
However all these interventions resulted to be at the best negligible. In favour of this approach he observed that when anti-inflammatory or metabolic drugs are used in patients with cardiac cachexia, such as after cardiac transplantation, evidence for beneficial effects are evident; however this result is confounded by the effect of the cardiac intervention itself.
Conclusion
Finally the only light came from the speech of V. Adams (Leipzig) who showed the reversibility of at least peripheral skeletal muscle changes by physical training.
Exercise training, like a real poly-pill, provides multiple positive effects, such as anti-inflammatory, anabolic, anti oxidative, and even regenerative by promoting mobilization of stem cells.
The content of this article reflects the personal opinion of the
author/s and is not necessarily the official position of the
European Society of Cardiology.