Sarcopenia as a predictor of prognosis and risk of recurrence in patients following curative treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the prognostic value of sarcopenia as a predictive method for survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who received curative treatment. One hundred patients were selected in this study, at Tropical Medicine department and HCC clinic, Ain Shams University Hospitals. All patients have undergone RAF for HCC between April 2018 and December 2018. According to presence or absence of sarcopenia, the enrolled patients were divided into 2 groups (sarcopenic and non sarcopenic). All patients were monitored after the procedure by AFP and triphasic spiral CT performed 1 month after curative treatment to evaluate the response and then every 3 months for at least 7 months to evaluate the recurrence. Overall survival and disease free survival were evaluated in sarcopenic and non sarcopenic patients. Illegible patients were evaluated by history, clinical examination, laboratory investigations including (CBC , KFTs , LFTs, INR and alpha feto protein) and imaging including (pelvi-abdominal ultrasound and triphasic CT scan). Etiology of liver cirrhosis and child score was determined and presence or absence of DM was involved