Overall survival of pseudomyxoma peritonei and peritoneal mesothelioma patients after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy can be predicted by computed tomography quantified sarcopenia.

Background: Malnutrition is associated with increased postoperative morbidity in abdominal surgery. This study aimed to determine if sarcopenia and/or abdominal fat composition could predict postoperative outcomes for patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC) for pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) and peritoneal mesothelioma (PM).
Methods: All patients who underwent a complete CRS-HIPEC for PMP and PM, between January 2009 and September 2017, were retrospectively studied. Preoperative computed tomography (CT) was used to measure the cross-sectional surface of skeletal muscle mass and adipose tissue (visceral and subcutaneous), at the level of the third lumbar vertebrae, to assess for sarcopenia and abdominal fat composition.
Results: Among 115 patients, 82 were treated for PMP and 33 for PM. 64 patients (55.7%) were sarcopenic on the preoperative imagery. Major postoperative complications occurred in 63 patients (54.8%), without observable difference between sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic patients (56.2% vs. 52.9%; p = 0.723). The median overall survival (OS) was 73.3 for the patients with a normal muscle mass and 57.2 months for the sarcopenic patients (p = 0.05).
Conclusion: CT measured sarcopenia is an independent predictive factor for overall survival in patients treated for PMP and PM with CRS-HIPEC, but cannot predict postoperative morbidity.
(Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd, BASO ~ The Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.)