Possible reasons for no appetite in late stage of lung cancer include cancer metastasis to digestive system organs, side effects of treatment drugs and brain metastasis of cancer.
1. Cancer metastasis to digestive system organs, if patients with advanced lung cancer have liver metastasis, gastric or intestinal metastasis, or lung cancer lesions directly invade esophagus and cause esophageal cancer, at this time, digestive function is seriously impaired, which can lead to patients having no appetite. This is the most common reason why patients have no appetite and cannot eat in advanced stage of lung cancer.
2. Side effects of therapeutic drugs, patients’ gastrointestinal function is impaired, resulting in loss of appetite or no appetite. Patients with advanced stage of lung cancer have already undergone long-term drug treatment, especially in the process of chemical drug treatment, which can easily cause damage to gastrointestinal mucosa and adverse reactions such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, etc., thus affecting digestion and absorption function.
3. Brain metastasis affects patients’ appetite. If brain metastasis occurs in patients with advanced lung cancer, the tumor compresses the feeding center in the brain, which will also cause lack of appetite. Intracranial hypertension caused by brain metastasis, headache, projectile vomiting, etc. will also seriously affect appetite.
Lung cancer patients with advanced stage who have no appetite can take less food and more meals, and pay attention to light diet. Intravenous nutritional support can be given when necessary.