Impact of sarcopenia in esophageal cancer

Abstract

We investigated for sarcopenia and the surgical outcomes in 124 patients with esophagectomy. The skeletal muscle index (SMI) diagnostic threshold for sarcopenia was determined using computed tomography. Preoperative sarcopenia was prevalent in 77 patients (62％). The incidence of surgical site infections and infectious morbidity was significantly higher in the sarcopenia group (32.4％ and 40.2％) than in the non-sarcopenia group (P＝0.02 and P＝0.01). The frequency of all complications in the sarcopenia group was significantly higher and was a risk factor in multivariate analysis. Recurrence-free survival was significantly lower in the sarcopenia group, but there was no significant difference in overall survival. Preoperative sarcopenia in patients undergoing esophageal cancer surgery was at high risk of postoperative morbidity and requires careful perioperative management.