High Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Radiodensity Predicts Poor Prognosis in Patients With Gastric Cancer.

Background/aim: Although the impact of body composition on cancer treatment outcomes of patients with cancer has been increasingly reported, it is still unclear whether the radiodensity of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) on computed tomography (CT) images has a prognostic impact on patients with gastric cancer. We measured muscle and SAT profiles on CT and performed an integrated analysis with clinicopathologic factors.

Patients and methods: We retrospectively analyzed 230 patients with gastric cancer who underwent gastrectomy between June 2016 and December 2020. SAT radiodensity (SAT-R), and skeletal muscle index (SMI) were measured in preoperative CT images. These were compared with clinicopathologic factors, overall survival (OS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS).

Results: High SAT-R was significantly associated with older age (p=0.003) and lower BMI, lymphocyte, hemoglobin, γ-GTP, cholinesterase, albumin, and triglyceride values (p<0.001, <0.001, 0.027, 0.032, <0.001, 0.001, and <0.001, respectively). In the univariate analysis, high SAT-R, and low SMI were significantly associated with poor OS (p=0.003 and <0.001) and poor RFS (p=0.014 and 0.011). In the multivariate analysis by Cox proportional hazard model, high SAT-R and low SMI were identified as independent prognostic factors for poor OS (p=0.037 and 0.007).

Conclusion: High SAT-R on preoperative CT was associated with poor OS in patients with gastric cancer after gastrectomy. SAT-R has a potential to be a novel prognostic marker for surgically treated patients with gastric cancer.