Computed tomography-based sarcopenia and pancreatic cancer: Prognostic value and variability based on different...

To evaluate the prognostic value of Computed Tomography (CT)-determined sarcopenia on overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer, and to assess the variability in outcomes according to different criteria described in the literature.

This was a retrospective observational study including patients with histologically confirmed pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated at our institution. Two automatic artificial intelligence (Comp2Comp and TotalSegmentator) segmentation methods were applied to extract various body composition parameter values. Sarcopenia was defined according to the criteria proposed by Prado et al. (2008) (<52.4 cm²/m² in men and <38.5 cm²/m² in women), as well as using additional thresholds described in previous studies. Descriptive analyses (univariate and bivariate) and survival analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier curves, Log-Rank tests, and univariate and multivariate Cox regression models.

A total of 71 patients were included (39.4% female; mean age: 64.1 years), with a median overall survival of 10 months. The prevalence of sarcopenia according to Prado et al. was 59.2%, ranging from 5.6% to 70.4% depending on the alternative methods described in the literature. Sarcopenia defined by Prado et al. was associated with reduced overall survival (crude Hazard Ratio [cHR]: 2.03; 95% CI: 1.19-3.45). However, substantial variability was observed when using other criteria, with cHR values ranging from non-significant to as high as 6.05 (95% CI: 2.04-17.96).

CT-determined sarcopenia is a prognostic factor for overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer. However, there is a need to harmonise and standardise the methods and thresholds used for its assessment.