How to Prevent Sarcopenia Occurrence during Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Oesogastric Adenocarcinoma?

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a preoperative feeding jejunostomy (FJ) on the occurrence of sarcopenia before and after preoperative chemotherapy for patients with an oesogastric adenocarcinoma (OGA). Forty-six patients with potentially resectable OGA were enrolled in a perioperative chemotherapy protocol. Sarcopenia was evaluated by measuring muscle surfaces (psoas, paraspinal and abdominal wall muscles) on abdominal CT images at the level of the 3rd lumbar vertebra. A FJ was placed in 31 patients (67.4%) before the neoadjuvant treatment (FJ group), while 15 patients (32.6%) started neoadjuvant treatments without FJ (control group). After preoperative chemotherapy, there were significantly more sarcopenic patients in the control group, compared to the FJ group. In the FJ group, 13% of the patients (n = 4) were sarcopenic before treatment and 22.6% of them (n = 7) became sarcopenic after preoperative chemotherapy (p = 0.3). In the control group, if initially only 6.7% (n = 1) of patients were sarcopenic, the majority of the patients (60%, n = 9) became sarcopenic after chemotherapy (p = 0.012). The FJ was an independent risk factor of sarcopenia after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. FJ with enteral nutritional support during the preoperative management of OGA seemed to efficiently counteract sarcopenia occurrence during preoperative chemotherapy.