What's new in palliative care

The following represent additions to UpToDate from the past six months that were considered by the editors and authors to be of particular interest. The most recent What's New entries are at the top of each subsection.

SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT

Olanzapine for cancer-associated anorexia and cachexia (August 2023)

Studies are evaluating approaches to management of anorexia and cachexia in patients with advanced cancer. In a randomized trial, 124 patients starting chemotherapy for lung, pancreaticobiliary, or stomach cancer were assigned to olanzapine 2.5 mg daily or placebo [1]. More patients in the olanzapine group experienced at least 5 percent weight gain (60 versus 9 percent) and appetite improvement (43 versus 30 percent). Olanzapine was well tolerated. These and earlier data led the American Society of Clinical Oncology to support low-dose olanzapine once daily to improve weight gain and appetite in patients with advanced cancer [2], while recognizing that the majority of data come from patients with lung or gastrointestinal cancer. (See "Management of cancer anorexia/cachexia", section on 'Olanzapine'.)