Plasma Levels of Glucagon-like Peptide-2 and Dyspepsia in Patients With Extraintestinal Cancer During Chemotherapy
Plasma Levels of Glucagon-like Peptide-2 and Dyspepsia in Patients With Extraintestinal Cancer During Chemotherapy
The specific aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between the development of
 dyspepsia and GI dyspeptic symptoms in relation to circulating levels of peculiar GI peptides
 (such gastrin, pepsinogen and GLP-2) in patients with non-gastrointestinal neoplasm well
 controlled for emesis.
The complications of anticancer treatment threaten the effectiveness of therapy because they
 lead to dose reduction, increase healthcare costs, and impair patients' quality of life.
 Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are the most frequent side effects of antineoplastic
 chemotherapy behind bone-marrow depression, with nausea and vomiting representing the mainly
 referred ones.

 Gastrointestinal (GI) mucositis, which represents injury of the rest of the alimentary tract
 beyond oral mucositis, is becoming recognized increasingly as a toxicity associated with many
 standard-dose chemotherapy regimens. Although clinicians consider them "minor complaints",
 many patients (40-100%) treated with chemotherapy and/or exposed to ionizing radiation suffer
 from such a disease. After chemotherapy, GI mucositis is most prominent in the small
 intestine, but it also occurs in the esophagus, stomach, and large intestine. The GI symptoms
 related to mucositis mimic those from other GI disease (such as dyspepsia, reflux disease or
 abdominal pain and diarrhea). Alimentary tract mucositis increases morbility and mortality
 and contribute to rising health care cost.

 The comprehension of pathophysiology will shed light on the rationale for targeting specific
 pathways and so for the use of specific agents for prevention and treatment. Since the role
 of chemotherapy in the onset of GI motility disorders in addition to minor GI complaints has
 not been clarified yet. Understanding the pathophysiology of mucositis, its measures and
 scores, are essential for progress in research and care direct at this common side-effect of
 anticancer therapy. Currently, there is not strong evidence to support a recommendation for
 and against the use of certain agents (mucosal surface protectants, antiinflammatory or
 antimicrobial agents, growth factors, etc).
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Patients with newly diagnosed cancer (lung and breast cancer),

 -  Patients currently free of active disease

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  History of cerebral edema, primary and secondary brain neoplasm with signs and
 symptoms of raised intracranial pressure and/or brain metastases,

 -  Signs of marked hepatic or renal dysfunction, cardiac failure

 -  Signs of dyspepsia, peptic ulcer, gastric surgery or prior diagnosis of other cancer

 -  Administration of drugs interfering with GI motility (i.e. antisecretory, prokinetic,
 or antibiotic drugs) as well as the exposition to radiotherapy, four weeks prior to
 the examination

 -  Referred episode of nausea of any severity within 24 h prior to antiemetic therapy, if
 they had experienced vomiting in the previous 24 h,

 -  Pregnancy or lactating

 -  Concomitant administration of agents known to have significant antiemetic activity,
 including benzodiazepines and other corticosteroids