Prognostic relevance of CT-defined body composition in esophageal cancer patients undergoing curative treatment.

INTRODUCTION

Body composition including low skeletal muscle mass (LSMM) defined by skeletal muscle index (SMI) and subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue (SAT and VAT) can be assessed using cross-sectional imaging techniques. Previous studies have shown promising prognostic value for several tumour entities, including esophageal cancer (EC). The aim of this study was to analyse possible associations of body composition parameters in patients with esophageal cancer undergoing curative treatment.

METHODS

All patients with EC undergoing curative treatment were retrospectively evaluated between 2016 and 2023. A total of 145 patients (17 female, 11.7 %) with a mean age of 65.9 ± 10.2 years were included in the present analysis. For all patients, staging computed tomography (CT) was used to calculate LSMM, VAT, and SAT. The primary study end point was all-cause overall survival. For statistical analysis group differences were calculated using the Mann-Whitney test. Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariable Cox regression analysis was used to test the effect of body composition parameters on mortality.

RESULTS

In total, 51 patients (35.2 %) of the patient cohort died within the observation period. According to the sarcopenia threshold of the SMI, 99 patients (68.2 %) were classified as sarcopenic and according to the VAT threshold, 102 patients (70.3 %) were classified as visceral obese. Sarcopenia and visceral obesity were associated with mortality with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.05 (95%confidence interval (CI) 1.17, 3.57, p = 0.01) and 2.47 (95%CI 1.39, 4.37, p = 0.002) in univariable analysis, respectively. Only the combination of both, sarcopenic obesity was significantly associated in multivariable analysis (HR 2.47, 95 %CI 1.39; 4.37, p = 0.002)

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of CT-defined sarcopenia and visceral obesity showed a strong prognostic relevance in EC undergoing curative resection. The effect of sarcopenia and visceral obesity considered separately was of lesser prognostic significance. CT-defined body composition may help to better stratify patients with EC at risk of worse outcome in clinical practice.