[Muscle assessment methods for the diagnosis of sarcopenia in cirrhotic patients]

Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle mass and function. Its presence darkens the prognosis of cirrhotic patients. The gold standard for the description of sarcopenia is the Skeletal Muscle Index (SMI). Thirty-four cirrhotic patients were included. Measurement was carried out through CT of both psoas separately that were then added obtaining the so called "sum of area of 2 psoas", in addition total muscular area, SMI and total area of psoas were measured. Ultrasonography was also performed and the transverse area of the quadriceps rectus anterior was measured by ultrasound and Hand Grip (HG). The correlation between the different measurements was analyzed comparing with the total muscle area, with quadriceps area (r = 0.39; p = 0.019), with total psoas area (r = 0.71; p <0.01), with sum of area of 2 psoas (r = 0.72; p <0.001) and with HG (r = 0.45; p = 0.0069). Compared with SMI, in women HG had 86% sensitivity and 66% specificity (AUC = 0.89). In men, the sum of 2 psoas had 91.7% sensitivity and specificity (AUC = 0.82) and the total area of psoas had 83.3% sensitivity and 76.9% specificity (AUC = 0.8). There was a very good correlation between the tomography methods with the gold standard. The correlation with ultrasound and strength was good. In the evaluation of sensitivity, specificity and AUC, it was not found a useful method when comparing with the SMI.