Bruera, E., Neumann, C.M., Pituskin, E., Calder, K., Ball, G., & Hanson, J. (1999). Thalidomide in patients with cachexia due to terminal cancer: Preliminary report. Annals of Oncology, 10, 857–859.
Patients received 100 mg of thalidomide by mouth at night for 10 days. If improvement was shown, patients could continue.
This was an open-label study.
More than 30% improvement in symptom intensity was observed in the following parameters: difficulty falling asleep (17/35 = 49%), morning restedness (23/36 = 64%), insomnia (22/32 = 69%), nausea (16/36 = 44%), appetite (22/35 = 63%), and well-being (18/34 = 53%). Twenty-seven patients completed food intake forms on days 1 and 10. Caloric intake increased from 1,325 to 1,531 calories per day (p = 0.047). Three patients discontinued thalidomide because of adverse effects: dizziness (1) and drowsiness (2).
Findings need to be confirmed in double-blind studies.