LAUSR

Sarcopenia is a predictor of poorer prognosis in cancer patients. Emerging data suggest the association between computed tomography (CT)-defined body composition and clinical outcomes. The aim of the study was to compare imaging method with conventional diagnostic criteria to identify malnutrition and altered body composition (BC) in oncological patients. In a prospective study, patients with a new diagnosis of advanced solid tumors were enrolled before starting chemotherapy. Anthropometric, BC and systemic inflammation measurements were collected: weight loss (WL), in the previous 6 months, body mass index (BMI), skeletal muscle index (SMI) by CT, fat-free mass index (FFMI) by bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). As cut-off point for sarcopenia, SMI 60 patients were assessed: 37M/23F; average age 59±13years; 37(62%) upper gastrointestinal, 10 lung, 9 colorectal, 1 breast, 3 other cancers. According to CT criteria, 41 patients (68%) were sarcopenic, of those 31(76%) reported a WL≥10%. Using BIVA, only 13 patients (22%) had pathologic FFMI, of those 12(92%) reported a WL≥10%. CT identified a higher prevalence of sarcopenia than BIVA (p Our preliminary results suggest that CT seems to be a more sensitive method for identifing sarcopenic patients, while BIVA is more specific. Further studies are required to confirm these data and to identify the best methods for monitoring BC during nutritional intervention.