During its evolution, cancer induces changes in patients’ energy metabolism that strongly affect the overall clinical state and are responsible for cancer-related cachexia syndrome. To better understand the mechanisms underlying cachexia and its metabolic derangements, research efforts should focus on the events that are driven by the immune system activation during the evolution of neoplastic disease and on the phenomena of “resistance” and “tolerance” typically involved in the human body response against stress, pathogens, or cancer. Indeed, in the case where resistance is not able to eliminate the cancer, tolerance mechanisms can utilize the symptoms of cachexia (anemia, anorexia, and fatigue) to counteract unregulated cancer growth. These notions are also sustained by the evidence that cancer cachexia may be reversible if the resistance and tolerance phases are supported by appropriate antineoplastic treatments. Accordingly, there is no doubt that anticachectic therapies have an irreplaceable role in cases of reversible cancer cachexia where, if harmoniously associated with effective antineoplastic therapies, they can contribute to preserve the quality of life and improve prognosis. Such anticachectic treatments should be based on targeting the complex immunological, inflammatory, and metabolic pathways involved in the complex pathogenesis of cachexia. Meanwhile, the role of the anticachectic therapies is very different in the stage of irreversible cachexia when the available antineoplastic treatments are not able to control the disease and the resistance mechanisms fail with the prevalence of the tolerance phenomena. At this stage, they can be useful only to improve the quality of life, allowing the patient and their family to get a better awareness of the final phases of life, thereby opening to the best spiritual remodulation of the final event, death.

Anemia in cancer patients is a relevant condition complicating the course of the neoplastic disease. Overall, we distinguish the anemia which arises under chemotherapy as pure adverse event of the toxic effects of the drugs used, and the anemia induced by the tumour-associated inflammation, oxidative stress, and systemic metabolic changes, which can be worsened by the concomitant anticancer treatments. This more properly cancer-related anemia depends on several overlapping mechanism, including impaired erythropoiesis and functional iron deficiency, which make its treatment more difficult. Standard therapies approved and recommended for cancer anemia, as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents and intravenous iron administration, are limited to the treatment of chemotherapy-induced anemia, preferably in patients with advanced disease, in view of the still unclear effect of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents on tumour progression and survival. Outside the use of chemotherapy, there are no recommendations for the treatment of cancer-related anemia. For a more complete approach, it is fundamentally a careful evaluation of the type of anemia and iron homeostasis, markers of inflammation and changes in energy metabolism. In this way, anemia management in cancer patient would permit a tailored approach that could give major benefits. Experimental drugs targeting hepcidin and activin II receptor pathways are raising great expectations, and future clinical trials will confirm their role as remedies for cancer-related anemia. Recent evidence on the effect of integrated managements, including nutritional support, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory substances, for the treatment of cancer anemia are emerging. In this review article, we show standard, innovative, and experimental treatment used as remedy for anemia in cancer patients.

Introduction: Endometrial cancer (EC) is one of the most frequent gynecological cancers worldwide. The gold standard treatment of EC is most certainly surgery and may very well be the only therapy in the early stages of disease. To improve outcomes in non-early EC, adjuvant therapy is often employed but this is not standardized. Adjuvant options can include radiotherapy, chemotherapy or a combination of both. Adjuvant chemotherapy could be indicated in high-risk stage I and II or advanced stage EC. Several clinical trials are ongoing in an attempt to define the optimal adjuvant treatment. Furthermore, chemotherapy is the front-line therapy in advanced unresectable, metastatic or recurrent endometrial cancer. Areas covered: Herein, the authors review the first-line chemotherapy for the treatment of endometrial cancer and provide their expert perspectives on these therapies. Expert opinion: Chemotherapy is fundamental in advanced/recurrent EC. Further evidence is needed to characterize the role of adjuvant chemotherapy. Future studies should consider genomic and molecular heterogeneities to identify even more efficient tailored therapies.

Ultrasound is an effective tool to detect and characterize endometriosis lesions. Variances in endometriosis lesions’ appearance and distorted anatomy secondary to adhesions and fibrosis present as major difficulties during the complete sonographic evaluation of pelvic endometriosis. Currently, differential diagnosis of endometriosis to distinguish it from other diseases represents the hardest challenge and affects subsequent treatment. Several gynecological and non-gynecological conditions can mimic deep-infiltrating endometriosis. For example, abdominopelvic endometriosis may present as atypical lesions by ultrasound. Here, we present an overview of benign and malignant diseases that may resemble endometriosis of the internal genitalia, bowels, bladder, ureter, peritoneum, retroperitoneum, as well as less common locations. An accurate diagnosis of endometriosis has significant clinical impact and is important for appropriate treatment.

The present study aimed to investigate whether a mother’s anxiety, depression, prenatal perception of childbirth, and experience with delivery, assessed from pregnancy to three months postpartum, were associated with her perception of her infant’s negative affectivity (NA). The participant sample was composed of 76 primiparous mothers and their healthy babies (58% boys, 42% girls). During pregnancy, mothers independently filled out the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaires (W-DEQ) version A. One month after giving birth, the mothers filled out the W-DEQ version B. Finally, three months after giving birth, they completed the EPDS, the STAI, and the four Infant Behaviour Questionnaire (IBQ-R) scales of NA. Linear regression analyses showed that perinatal FoB, trait anxiety, and depression were associated with a maternal perception of higher infant NA. Studies on perinatal parental health and child outcomes should include assessments of the relation between anxiety during pregnancy and postpartum depression in order to prevent any negative impacts on the temperaments of children.