[Impact of Sarcopenia on Patients with Advanced Gastric Cancer Who Underwent Surgery]

This study aimed to investigate the short- and long-term outcomes in patients with sarcopenia who underwent surgery for advanced gastric cancer. We included 76 patients with pStage Ⅱ or Ⅲ gastric cancer who underwent gastrectomy between January 2017 and June 2021. Patients with pT3N0 cancer were excluded. Using the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia( AWGS)2019 criteria, the patients were divided into the sarcopenia group(S group)and the non-sarcopenia group (NS group). The surgical outcomes, effects on postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, and prognosis of the 2 groups were evaluated and compared. No significant differences were observed in the operative time, blood loss, postoperative hospital stays, or incidence of postoperative complications with a grade higher than Clavien-Dindo Grade Ⅱ. The number of patients who received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy was 5(26.3%)in the S group and 38(66.7%)in the NS group which was significantly lower in the S group(p=0.003). The 3-year overall survival rate was 45.7% in the S group and 71.0% in the NS group(p=0.302). There was no significant difference but survival rate was lower in the S group. The results suggest that postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is not always available for patients with advanced gastric cancer, and that may worsen the prognosis.