Association between preoperative potential sarcopenia and survival of cancer patients undergoing major surgical procedures

ABSTRACT Objective: to evaluate the impact of probable sarcopenia (PS) on the survival of oncological patients submitted to major surgeries. Method: prospective cohort bicentrical study enrolling adult oncological patients submitted to major surgeries at Cancer Hospital and Santa Casa de Misericordia in Cuiabá-MT. The main endpoint was the verification of postoperative death. Demographic and clinical data was collected. PS was defined as the presence of 1) sarcopenia risk assessed by SARC-F questionnaire and 2) low muscle strength measured by dynamometry. The cumulative mortality rate was calculated for patients with either PS or non PS using Kaplan Meier curve. The univariate and multivariate Cox regression model was used to evaluate the association of mortality with various investigated confounding variables. Results: a total of 220 patients with a mean (SD) age of 58.7±14.0 years old, 60.5% males participated of the study. Patients with PS had higher risk to postoperative death (RR=5.35 95%CI 1.95-14.66; p=0,001) and for infectious complications (RR=2.45 95%CI 1.12-5.33; p=0.036). The 60 days mean survival was shorter for patients with PS: 44 (IQR=32-37) vs 58 (IQR=56-59) days (log rank <0,001). The Cox multivariate regression showed that PS was an independent risk factor (HR=5.8 95%CI 1.49-22.58; p=0.011) for mortality. Conclusion: patients bearing PS submitted to major oncological surgery have less probability of short term survival and preoperative PS is an independent risk for postoperative mortality.