Progressive weight loss is a common clinical feature in cancer patients. In most cases, weight loss can be explained partly by anorexia or decreased oral intake as a result of therapeutic toxicity, chronic pain, a depressive state, obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract, hypercalcaemia, uraemia, and so on. It is also well recognised that weight loss appears at an early stage of malignancy and disappears with the resection of the tumour. This clinical observation fits into the category of humoral syndrome.
