Effect of Body Composition on Outcomes in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Undergoing Radiotherapy: A Retrospective Study

Computed tomography (CT)-assessed body composition is considered a novel prognostic factor for cancer patients. Owing to the need for new prognostic markers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing radiotherapy, we investigated the impact of body composition on outcomes in this patient...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nutrition and cancer 2022-08, Vol.74 (9), p.3302-3311
Main Authors: Li, Li-Qing, Zhao, Wei-Dong, Su, Ting-Shi, Wang, Yu-Dan, Meng, Wan-Wan, Liang, Shi-Xiong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adipose tissue
Body composition
Body fat
Cancer
Computed tomography
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Image processing
Liver cancer
Multivariate analysis
Muscles
Population studies
Radiation therapy
Skeletal muscle
Survival
Vertebrae
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Summary:Computed tomography (CT)-assessed body composition is considered a novel prognostic factor for cancer patients. Owing to the need for new prognostic markers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing radiotherapy, we investigated the impact of body composition on outcomes in this patient population. We retrospectively evaluated 109 HCC patients receiving radiotherapy. The skeletal muscle index, subcutaneous adipose tissue index (SATI), and visceral adipose tissue index within 1 mo, before radiotherapy were assessed based on a single CT image slice at the level of the third lumbar (L3) vertebra. The impact of body composition parameters on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was assessed. Overall, 62 (56.9%) patients died, and 47 (43.1%) patients experienced recurrence during a median follow-up period of 20.5 mo. Multivariate analysis revealed that SATI was an independent prognostic factor for both PFS (hazard ratio [HR] 0.542, P = 0.025) and OS (HR 0.385, P = 0.005). Patients with high SATI (n = 43) had significantly better PFS (P = 0.0093) and OS (P = 0.032) than those with low SATI (n = 66). CT-assessed SATI is an independent prognostic factor in HCC patients receiving radiotherapy. Further validation is warranted to determine whether this finding can be translated into other study populations.
ISSN:0163-5581
1532-7914
DOI:10.1080/01635581.2022.2074472