Different computed tomography parameters for defining myosteatosis in patients with advanced non-small cell lung...

Myosteatosis, excess muscle fat infiltration, is a novel prognostic factor in cancer patients. To define myosteatosis, skeletal muscle radiodensity (SMD) is most commonly used, while intramuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) is newly introduced. We aimed to compare SMD-defined and IMAT-defined myosteatosis for predicting overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to explore whether patients with both low SMD and high IMAT had a shorter OS than patients with low SMD or high IMAT alone.

We consecutively and prospectively recruited adult patients with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC at a teaching hospital. The mean SMD of all skeletal muscle areas and the area of IMAT on the unenhanced chest computed tomography (CT) images at the 12th thoracic vertebral level were segmented using Mimics version 21.0. Myosteatosis was defined by either low SMD (SMD-defined myosteatosis) or high IMAT (IMAT-defined myosteatosis). The optimal cutoffs for low SMD and high IMAT were also determined using the maximally selected rank statistics method. We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) and the corresponding confidence intervals (CIs) to evaluate the associations of OS with low SMD, high IMAT, and a combination of them.

We included 565 patients (345 men and 220 women; mean age 58.5 ± 9.0 years). Lower IMAT exhibited a tendency toward a favorable prognosis in men (p = 0.0015) and women (p < 0.0001); whereas higher SMD tended to have a favorable prognosis in men (p = 0.0006) and women (p < 0.0001). At baseline, 423 (74.9 %) participants had high IMAT, 432 (76.5 %) participants had low SMD and 370 (65.5 %) participants had both high IMAT and low SMD. Compared to those without either high IMAT or low SMD, the participants with either high IMAT or low SMD had a shorter OS, while the participants with both High IMAT and Low SMD had the shortest OS (log-rank p < 0.0001). After adjustment for the same confounders, high IMAT (HR, 1.44; 95 % CI, 1.10-1.87) and low SMD (HR, 1.92; 95 % CI, 1.36-2.43) were separately associated with poor prognosis. Moreover, the combination of high IMAT and low SMD indicated a higher risk of poor prognosis (HR, 2.43; 95 % CI, 1.62-3.66).

Both SMD-defined and IMAT-defined myosteatosis are highly prevalent in patients with advanced NSCLC and may serve as independent prognostic factors for OS. The diagnosis of myosteatosis might consider a combination of low SMD and high IMAT because this would help identify patients at a higher risk of mortality.