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Purpose: The significance of sarcopenia after colorectal cancer (CRC) resection has only been discussed with relatively small samples or short follow-up periods. This study aimed to clarify the clinical significance of sarcopenia in a large-sample study. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the relationship between sarcopenia and clinical factors, surgical outcomes, and the survival in 494 patients who underwent CRC surgery between 2004 and 2013. Sarcopenia was defined based on the sex-specific skeletal muscle mass index measured by preoperative computed tomography. Results: Sarcopenia was associated with sex (higher rate of male, P < 0.0001), and low body mass index ( P < 0.0001), but not age or tumor stage. Sarcopenia was associated with higher incidence of all postoperative complications ( P = 0.02), especially for patients with Clavien-Dindo classification grade ≥2 (CDC; P = 0.0007). Postoperative hospital stays were significantly longer for sarcopenic patients than for non-sarcopenic patients ( P = 0.02). In a multivariate analysis, sarcopenia was an independent predictor for postoperative complications ( P = 0.01, odds ratio 1.82, 95% confidence interval 1.13-3.00). Among postoperative complications (CDC grade ≥2), sarcopenia was correlated with non-surgical-site infections ( P = 0.03). Sarcopenia was not correlated with the overall or recurrence-free survival. Conclusions: Sarcopenia was an independent predictive factor for postoperative complications after CRC surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.

Background: The incidence of skeletal muscle metastasis from oesophageal cancer is very low, and the treatment strategy has not been established., Case Report: A 77-year-old man underwent oesophagectomy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy for oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (CT-pT3 N0 M0, CT-pStage II). Fourteen months after surgery, he became aware of a subcutaneous tumour in his left forearm. Computed tomography and fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography revealed a 65×75 mm intramuscular nodular lesion with a standardized uptake value of 8.5. Further examination by biopsy strongly suggested this was a solitary metastasis from oesophageal cancer. The patient received chemoradiotherapy with two cycles of 5-fluorouracil combined with cisplatin and radiation. Clinical complete response was confirmed by imaging 7 months after chemoradiation and no recurrence has occurred at 20 months since chemoradiation., Conclusion: Radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy can be an alternative locoregional therapy to surgery for solitary skeletal muscle metastasis., (Copyright© 2017, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Platinum-based chemotherapeutic drugs as a component of combination chemotherapy are widely used in the treatment of cancer. In particular, oxaliplatin(L-OHP), one such platinum-based chemotherapeutic drug, has a synergistic effect in combination with 5-FU and Leucovorin for the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of this synergistic effect has not been fully clarified yet. In this review, we summarize several updates about the in vitro action of oxaliplatin in human tumor cells and discuss the underlying mechanism of its synergistic effect with 5-FU.