Hi,
The symptom worrying you the most is unintentional weight loss, and you would like to rule out cancer as the
underlying cause. Another symptom bothering you is that you have to get up a few times at night for
urinating.
There are many causes of weight loss. Gastro-intestinal causes of weight loss include infections (salmonella
etc), infestations (giardia, amebiasis etc), bacterial overgrowth syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease,
pancreatic causes (diabetes), short bowel syndrome etc. The predominant symptom in most of these conditions is
diarrhea and abdominal discomfort. From your short description, it appears that you do not have significant
gastro-intestinal symptoms. Diabetes too has been ruled out in your case.
Hyperthyroidism causes heat intolerance, tremors, palpitations, and weight loss. Your normal Thyroid Profile
result rules this out. Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) too is normal, and argues against prostate cancer as a
cause of your urinary symptoms.
You have undergone imaging of head (because midline meningiomas can cause urinary complaints), abdomen and
pelvis (to look for prostate enlargement and any abdominal mass like lymphoma, colon mass etc). The CT scans
were normal.
Urine test negative for blood indicates that there is no gross involvement of renal pelvis, ureter, bladder,
or urethra by any lesion.
Your appetite is good, and you “feel normal”. These are all good signs.
So now, we have to look harder to find the cause of your weight loss, and rule out less likely causes. These
include connective tissue disorders, malabsorption, and colon lesions.
First you need to get all baseline investigations done including hemogram, liver and renal functions, Chest
X-ray, HIV serology, HBsAg, routine stool microscopy, and routine urine microscopy.
Additionally you should get a colonoscopic examination, stool for occult blood, fat estimation and parasites,
erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum LDH, and serum CRP.
From your current symptoms, it is unlikely that cancer is a cause of your weight loss. However, you need to
work with your doctors to identify the underlying cause. Are you a smoker? What is your age? Do you have low
grade fever? Have you noticed any joint pain or skin rashes? Have you had diarrhea recently? Have you traveled
to a foreign country recently? Did your CT scan include a Thorax CT too? Have you noticed the presence of any
lymph node swelling?
