Background: Sarcopenia is common in oncology patients and has been found to be associated with poorer outcomes after surgery. Pelvic exenteration is a major surgery associated with high rates of morbidity. The aim of this study was to determine if preoperative sarcopenia is associated with postoperative complications and outcomes after pelvic exenteration surgery. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted including 64 oncology patients who had undergone pelvic exenteration surgery between August 2015 and January 2018 and had available preoperative lumbar CT images. Skeletal muscle index (SMI) was calculated by analysing CT images using body composition software. Sarcopenia was determined by using previously published SMI sex-specific cut-offs. Preoperative nutritional status, nutritional indicators and other clinical factors were also collected. Results: There was no association between preoperative sarcopenia and outcomes after pelvic exenteration surgery, however, increased weight (p=0.027) and BMI (p=0.025) were associated with a greater number of total complications. Increasing age was also significant (p=0.001) in explaining the greater number of complications. Greater complexity of surgery itself was associated with greater postoperative complications (p=0.014) and increased length of hospital stay (p=0.001). Conclusion: Preoperative sarcopenia, using dichotomous cut-off points, is not sensitive enough to predict postoperative complications and outcomes in oncology patients undergoing pelvic exenteration surgery; however, other preoperative factors such as weight, BMI and age, and the complexity of surgery, do affect outcomes. Assessment tools that incorporate several clinical and physical factors, such as frailty assessments, should be used in future studies to identify risk factors in such major surgeries.
Background: Sarcopenia is associated with poor postoperative outcomes in oncology patients. Computed tomography (CT) scans can be used to identify muscle wasting and sarcopenia. This study aimed to investigate if pelvic exenteration surgery leads to muscle wastage and thus, induction or exacerbation of sarcopenia. Methods: This is a retrospective review involving the analysis of CT scans before and after pelvic exenteration surgery to determine skeletal muscle index and diagnose sarcopenia. Other clinical and nutritional factors were collected. Results: A total of 34 patients met the inclusion criteria. Postoperative skeletal muscle index was significantly lower compared to preoperative skeletal muscle index (p=0.008). The incidence of sarcopenia was 62% preoperatively and rose to 74% postoperatively (p=0.073). Postoperative sarcopenia was not significantly associated with complications or mortality. Conclusion: The skeletal muscle index significantly decreased postoperatively, indicating that pelvic exenteration surgery leads to muscle wastage. The use of CT scans to recognise sarcopenia would allow focusing of resources for those at risk.
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