Investigating the clinical significance of body composition changes in patients undergoing chemoradiation for oropharyngeal cancer using analytic morphomics

BACKGROUND: The purpose is to investigate the clinical significance of body morphomics changes in stage III–IV oropharyngeal cancer patients during concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT). METHODS: Fifty patients who underwent CRT were selected for body composition analyses by either availability of pre/post treatment DEXA scans or a novel CT-based approach of body morphomics analysis (BMA). BMA changes (lean psoas and total psoas area) were compared to total lean body mass changes by DEXA scans using two-sample t tests. Pearson correlation was used to compare the BMA measures to head and neck specific quality of life outcomes. Cox hazards model was used to predict mortality and tumor recurrence. RESULTS: Clinically significant declines in total psoas area and lean body mass of similar magnitude were observed in both BMA and DEXA cohorts after CRT. Loss of psoas area (P < 0.05) was associated with greater frailty and mobility issues (3 out of 15 UWQOL domains). Total psoas area is more sensitive for local recurrence than weight changes and T-stage on multivariate analyses. CONCLUSIONS: BMA specifically evaluating psoas area appears to correlate with head and neck cancer quality of life physical domains. Pre- and post-treatment total psoas area at L4 appears prognostic for tumor recurrence.