Muscle mass change using linear measurement analysis after nephrectomy for pT3 and pT4 renal cell carcinoma is associated with mortality

Preoperative skeletal muscle deficiency is an established risk factor for poor survival outcomes in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, given the dynamic nature of skeletal muscle associated with malignancy, there is a need to evaluate the prognostic benefit of muscle area change from the preoperative to postoperative period. We hypothesize that an improvement in muscle area following nephrectomy, measured by linear segmentation of L3 psoas and paraspinal musculature, is associated with improvement in overall survival (OS) and cancer specific survival (CSS) for patients with pT3 and pT4 RCC.