Fatigue and Breast Cancer

Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms that breast cancer patients complain about, even long after treatment is complete. After excluding medical issues to account for fatigue, such as anemia, hypothyroidism, and depression, clinicians commonly offer the bromide that fatigue is a residual effect of treatment that will eventually resolve. Words of encouragement are offered, and physical activity is suggested.

Now, fascinating preliminary work indicates that another potential mechanism may be at play to account for the fatigue that some breast cancer patients experience. The authors suggest that fatigue may be related to skeletal muscle reprogramming induced by breast cancer, regardless of the tumor molecular subtype or whether systemic tr…