Sarcopenia Predicts Prognosis in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Independent of Tumor Stage and Liver Function.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the prognostic significance of changes in body composition in patients with newly diagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Materials and Methods: Patients (n=178) newly diagnosed with HCC participated in the study between 2007 and 2012. Areas of skeletal muscle and abdominal fat were directly measured using a three-dimensional workstation. Cox proportional-hazards modes were used to estimate the effect of baseline variables on overall survival. The inverse probability of treatmentweighting (IPTW) method was used to minimize confounding bias.

Results: Cutoff values for sarcopenia, obtained from receiver-operating characteristic curves, were defined as skeletal muscle index at the third lumbar vertebra of ≤ 45.8 cm/m2 for males and ≤ 43.0 cm/m2 for females. Sarcopenia patients were older, more likely to be female, and had lower body mass index. Univariable analysis showed that the presence of sarcopenia and visceral to subcutaneous fat area ratio (VSR) were significantly associatedwith prognosis. The multivariable analyses revealed that VSR was predictive of overall survival. However, in the multivariable Cox model adjusted by IPTW, sarcopenia, not VSR, were associated with overall survival.

Conclusion: The presence of sarcopenia at HCC diagnosis is independently associated with survival.