Risk factors and clinical outcomes of postgastrectomy sarcopenia newly developed after curative resection for gastric cancer

This study aimed to investigate the risk factors and clinical impact of newly developed sarcopenia after surgical resection on the prognosis of patients undergoing curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer (GC). The clinicopathological data of 573 consecutive patients with GC who underwent curative gastrectomy were reviewed. Their skeletal muscle mass and abdominal fat volume were measured using abdominal computed tomography. Forty six of them (8.0%) were diagnosed with preoperative sarcopenia. Among the 527 patients without sarcopenia, 57 (10.8%) were diagnosed with postgastrectomy sarcopenia newly developed 1 year after curative gastrectomy. Female sex, weight loss, proximal location of the tumor and differentiated tumor were significant risk factors of postgastectomy sarcopenia newly developed after curative gastrectomy. There was a significant difference in the 5-year overall survival among the preoperative sarcopenic, nonsarcopenic, and postgastrectomy sarcopenic groups (P = .017). Especially, there was a significant difference between nonsarcopenic and postgastrectomy sarcopenic groups (P = .009). However, there was no significant difference in the 5-year disease-free survival among the groups (P = .49). Since newly developed sarcopenia after surgical resection had an influence on the overall survival, patients with high sarcopenia risks after curative gastrectomy may require early nutritional support.