Sarcopenia: An important prognostic factor for males treated for a locally advanced esophageal carcinoma

Introduction: Sarcopenia is a prognostic factor of esophageal carcinoma (EC) before surgery, with less convincing data reported before chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Material and methods: All patients with a locally advanced EC who had been treated with upfront CRT, between 2010 and 2015, were included. The decision of surgery was made after CRT (40-50 Gy). Muscle mass was measured on a single third lumbar vertebra CT-scan slice. Sarcopenia was internationally defined as skeletal muscle index of <= 39cm2/m2 for women and <= 55cm2/m2 for men. Results were additionally analyzed according to clinical parameters, with a cut-offbased on the mean skeletal muscle lumbar index (SMI) of the population studied. Results: Overall, 104 patients were included (male: 69%). Mean SMI was 35cm2/m2 for women and 46cm2/m2 for men, with 81% of patients being sarcopenic (n = 84). The 3-year overall survival (OS) rate, of 34.6%, was not significantly associated with sarcopenia in the whole population. In men, there was, however, a highly significant correlation between SMI and OS (p = 0.003), which remained significant upon multivariate analysis (p = 0.02). When using the mean SMI as cut-off, sarcopenia was significantly associated with 3-year OS (43.3% vs. 26.2%, p = 0.02). Conclusion: A high sarcopenia level appears negatively associated with OS in male EC patients treated with upfront CRT. (C) 2020 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.