Rich NE, Phen S, Desai N, et al. - According to this retrospective cohort study, cachexia affects nearly 1 in every 4 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), including individuals with compensated cirrhosis or early-stage tumors. Cancer-related weight loss appears to be an early and independent indicator of poor outcomes in HCC patients.

• At diagnosis, 201 (33.3%) of 604 patients with HCC had precachexia and 143 (23.7%) had cachexia, with 19.0%, 23.5%, 34.7%, and 34.0% of patients with BCLC stages 0/A, B, C, and D, respectively.

• Cachexia patients were less likely to undergo HCC treatment and had a lower survival rate than those with precachexia or stable weight.

• After adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, Child Pugh class, AFP, BCLC stage and HCC treatment, cachexia remained an independent predictor of poor survival.