Prognostic value of subcutaneous adipose tissue volume in hepatocellular carcinoma treated with transcatheter intra-arterial therapy

Takamasa Kobayashi, Hirokazu Kawai, Oki Nakano, Satoshi Abe, Hiroteru Kamimura, Akira Sakamaki, Kenya Kamimura, Atsunori Tsuchiya, Masaaki Takamura, Satoshi Yamagiwa,† Shuji Terai Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan †Dr Satoshi Yamagiwa passed away on May 4, 2018 Background: Prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who undergo transcatheter intra-arterial therapies, including transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and transcatheter arterial infusion chemotherapy, is affected by many clinical factors including liver function and tumor progression. However, the effect of body composition such as skeletal muscle and visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues (VAT and SAT, respectively) on the prognosis of these patients remains unclear. We investigated the prognostic value of body composition in HCC patients treated with transcatheter intra-arterial therapies. Patients and methods: This study retrospectively evaluated 100 HCC patients treated with transcatheter intra-arterial therapies between 2005 and 2015. Areas of skeletal muscle, VAT, and SAT were measured on computed tomography images at third lumbar vertebra level and normalized by the height squared to calculate the skeletal muscle index, VAT index, and SAT index (SATI). The visceral to subcutaneous adipose tissue area ratio was also calculated. Overall survival (OS) was compared between high- and low-index groups for each body composition. Furthermore, prognostic significance was assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses using Cox proportional hazards models. Results: Among the body composition indexes, only SATI could significantly differentiate OS (p=0.012). Multivariate analysis showed that SATI (low- vs. high-SATI: HR, 2.065; 95% CI, 1.187–3.593; p=0.010), serum albumin (