Sarcopenia is associated with prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell cancer after radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy

Background This study aimed to determine the prognostic value of the sarcopenia on the progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) patients who received radiotherapy (RT) or chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Methods Data on clinicopathological characteristics and nutritional parameters were analyzed and correlated with PFS and OS, retrospectively. Skeletal muscle, subcutaneous, visceral and total fat tissue cross-sectional areas were evaluated on CT images at the midpoint of the 3rd lumbar vertebrae. A total of 213 patients were enrolled in this study. Results Sarcopenia was significantly associated with subcutaneous fat content. The univariate analysis demonstrated that OS was superior in patients with non-sarcopenia, non-alcohol, NRI >= 100, albumin >= 40 g/L, TATI > 83.0, SATI > 27.8, VATI > 49, non-anemia, cervical and upper-thoracic ESCC, T stage 1-2, N stage 0-1 and TNM stage I-II. In the multivariate analysis, sarcopenia, albumin, N stage and TNM stage were identified as independent prognostic factors of survival. This study demonstrated that sarcopenia was related to worse PFS and OS in patients with ESCC who received RT or CRT. Conclusions Sarcopenia is considered to be a useful predictor in patients with ESCC who received RT or CRT. This study also provided a conceptual basis for further prospective research on the application of the sarcopenia for patients receiving RT or CRT for intermediate- and advanced-stage ESCC.