We aimed to describe the effect of preoperative sarcopenia on oncologic outcomes of organ-confined renal cell carcinoma (RCC) after radical nephrectomy.
A total of 632 patients with pT1-2 RCC who underwent radical nephrectomy between 2004 and 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. From preoperative computerized tomography (CT) scans, skeletal muscle index (SMI) was measured and gender-specific cutoff values at third lumbar vertebra of 52.4 cm2/m2 for men and 38.5 cm2/m2 for women were used to define sarcopenia. Survivals were compared and associations with sarcopenia were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier log rank tests and Cox proportional hazard regression models. Median follow-up was 83 months.
Of 632 patients, 268 (42.4%) were classified as sarcopenic. The sarcopenic group was more advanced in age (57 versus 53 years) and more predominantly male (71.3% versus 59.9%). Sarcopenic patients had lower body mass index (BMI, 23.0 versus 25.9 kg/m2), but there was no difference in tumor size, stage, or nuclear grade. Sarcopenia was associated with poorer overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS; OS 94.0% versus 82.1%; p < 0.001 and CSS 97.5% versus 91.8%; p < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, sarcopenia was an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 2.58; 95% CI 1.02-6.54] and cancer-specific mortality (HR 3.07; 95% CI 1.38-6.83).
Sarcopenia at diagnosis was an independent risk factor for all-cause and cancer-specific mortality after radical nephrectomy for pT1-2 RCC. These findings underscore the importance of assessing presence of sarcopenia for risk stratification even among surgical candidates.
Annals of surgical oncology. 2021 Oct 09 [Epub ahead of print]
Jongpil Lee, Jungyo Suh, Cheryn Song, Dalsan You, In Gab Jeong, Bumsik Hong, Jun Hyuk Hong, Choung Soo Kim, Hanjong Ahn
Department of Urology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea., Department of Urology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. .