Pancreatic cancer, despite significant progress in diagnosis and treatment still has poor prognosis. Surgical treatment remains the only cure option. Unfortunately, the percentage of patients in whom radical tumor removal is possible is less than 20%. Resection procedures are burdened with a high degree of difficulty, as well as a high complication rate. One of the important factors contributing to the high morbidity of the perioperative period is malnutrition, and rapidly progressing malnutrition which occurs in about 85% of pancreatic cancer patients. Abnormal nutritional status is closely related to a change in the composition in the body.The aim of the study was to determine the changes in the body composition of patients with pancreatic cancer and their consequences based on the results of the current research.The available reports have shown that the body composition of a patient with pancreatic cancer undoubtedly changes and is dependent on the stage, location and type of cancer. Furthermore, the fact if antitumor treatment is applied or not, also plays a significant role.It appears that in patients with pancreatic cancer, weight loss with a decline in parameters such as body fat and skeletal muscle mass appears early and worsens as the tumor grows and the disease progresses. The above data suggest that knowing the patient's body composition and observing its changes may be a prognostic factor for survival and the occurrence of complications. Additionally, there are reports that dosing chemotherapy based on body composition rather than conventional measures can help reduce the toxicity of the treatment. Therefore, knowing the patient's body composition seems to be an important aspect.

Assessment of hydration status is essential in monitoring the effectiveness of renal replacement therapy and is usually based on physical examination. However, comparisons of hydration status achieved with different dialysis methods are not conclusive. We compared the hydration status of patients on chronic hemodialysis (HD, n = 60) and peritoneal dialysis (PD, n = 20) in a comprehensive assessment including physical examination and additional methods. The mean age of the 80 chronically dialyzed patients (53 males, 27 females) was 58.1 ± 13.9 years. The clinical evaluation took into account the presence of peripheral edema, dyspnea, and crackling over the lung fields. Additional tests included lung ultrasound, electrical bioimpedance (performed in 79 patients), impedance cardiography, ultrasound assessment of large abdominal vessels (performed in 79 patients), select echocardiographic parameters (obtained in 78 patients), and serum NT-proBNP concentration. Residual diuresis volume was significantly higher in the PD group. We found no significant differences between the two groups in any other baseline characteristics or in the results of the clinical examination or additional tests. The use of different methods for assessing hydration does not allow differentiation of patients treated with dialysis in terms of the dialysis technique used. Therefore, it seems reasonable to use common algorithms to objectify the hydration status of these patients.

The monitoring of children with cerebral palsy (CP) should include a precise assessment of the nutritional status to identify children and adolescents at risk of nutrition disorders. Available studies assessing the nutritional status of children with CP mainly focus on the relationship between body composition and the coexistence of motor dysfunctions, frequently overlooking the role of muscle tone. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relationship between body composition and muscle tone in children with CP. In a case-control study (n = 118; mean age 11 y; SD = 3.8), the children with CP presented various stages of functional capacities, corresponding to all the levels in gross motor function classification system (GMFSC), and muscle tone described by all the grades in Ashworth scale. The control group consisted of healthy children and adolescents, strictly matched for gender and age in a 1:1 case-control manner. The children with CP were found with significantly lower mean values of fat-free mass (FFM kg = 29.2 vs. 34.5, p < 0.001), muscle mass (MM kg = 18.6 vs. 22.6, p < 0.001), body cell mass (BCM kg = 15.1 vs. 18.3, p < 0.001), and total body water (TBW L = 23.0 vs. 26.7, p < 0.001). The same differences in body composition were identified with respect to gender (p < 0.01 respectively). Moreover, children with higher muscle tone (higher score in Ashworth scale) were found with significantly lower values of fat mass (FM), FFM, MM, BCM, and TBW (p < 0.05). The findings showed lower parameters of body composition in the children with CP compared to the healthy children, and a decrease in the parameters coinciding with higher muscle tone in the study group. This observation suggests that it is necessary to measure muscle tone while assessing nutritional status of children with CP.