Correlation of reduced temporal muscle thickness and systemic muscle loss in newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients

Abstract

Purpose Reduced temporal muscle thickness (TMT) has recently been postulated as a prognostic imaging marker and an objective tool to assess patients frailty in glioblastoma. Our aim is to investigate the correlation of TMT and systemic muscle loss to confirm that TMT is an adequate surrogate marker of sarcopenia in newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients. Methods TMT was assessed on preoperative MR-images and skeletal muscle area (SMA) was assessed at the third lumbar vertebra on preoperative abdominal CT-scans. Previous published TMT sex-specific cut-off values were used to classify patients as ‘patient at risk of sarcopenia’ or ‘patient with normal muscle status’. Correlation between TMT and SMA was assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Results Sixteen percent of the 245 included patients were identified as at risk of sarcopenia. The mean SMA of glioblastoma patients at risk of sarcopenia (124.3 cm2, SD 30.8 cm2) was significantly lower than the mean SMA of patients with normal muscle status (146.3 cm2, SD 31.1 cm2, P < .001). We found a moderate association between TMT and SMA in the patients with normal muscle status (Spearman’s rho 0.521, P < .001), and a strong association in the patients at risk of sarcopenia (Spearman’s rho 0.678, P < .001). Conclusion Our results confirm the use of TMT as a surrogate marker of total body skeletal muscle mass in glioblastoma, especially in frail patients at risk of sarcopenia. TMT can be used to identify patients with muscle loss early in the disease process, which enables the implementation of adequate intervention strategies.

The relationship between temporal muscle thickness and triglyceride glucose index in sarcopenia with mortality and third-month functional outcomes in patients after acute stroke

“…Many studies have evaluated the relationship between glioblastoma and sarcopenia using TMT. [10,12,[16][17][18][19][20][21] It has been suggested that TMT could guide treatment planning and perioperative processes in patients with glioblastoma. [10] Similarly, TMT has been reported to predict sarcopenia and survival in patients with glioblastoma.…”

“…TMT is a current parameter for evaluating sarcopenia. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]58,59] A retrospective study by Li et al suggested that TMT is important in evaluating patients' physical condition, stroke recurrence, and survival prognosis after acute stroke. However, they reported that survival time was significantly lower for patients with low than high TMT values.…”

“…[ 18 , 21 ] Similarly, some studies have concluded that evaluating TMT would be beneficial in accurately detecting patients with early-stage glioblastoma and frailty at risk for sarcopenia. [ 19 , 20 ] Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and sarcopenia were evaluated for TMT survival times. However, some studies suggest that TMT is not a significant parameter in evaluating sarcopenia in patients with glioblastoma.…”

“…TMT has been evaluated in many studies on patients with glioblastoma, especially in recent years. [16–21] These studies found that TMT was an important clinical finding in predicting survival and evaluating sarcopenia in patients with primary glioblastoma. These clinical studies stated that TMT could be considered an important parameter and could facilitate the application of the most appropriate treatment model to patients at an early stage.…”

“…These clinical studies stated that TMT could be considered an important parameter and could facilitate the application of the most appropriate treatment model to patients at an early stage. [16,[18][19][20][21] However, Muglia et al reported that the relationships between TMT and survival and age were not statistically significant. Nevertheless, they reported that the relationship between TMT and sex was statistically significant in patients with glioblastoma.…”