Clinical significance of sarcopenia in children with neuroblastic tumors
link.springer.com shows its articles on its own site.
Read the article on link.springer.com ↗Article · Aug 2024 · 1 min read
In brief
In brief
This study demonstrates that skeletal muscle index at diagnosis predicts survival in children with neuroblastic tumors and decreases significantly during treatment. Sarcopenia monitoring is crucial as muscle loss correlates with growth impairment in pediatric neuroblastoma patients.
- Skeletal muscle index z-score (SMI-z) at diagnosis independently predicts overall survival in pediatric neuroblastic tumors (HR 0.58).
- SMI-z, height z-score, and weight z-score all significantly decline during treatment, while BMI-z remains stable.
- Sarcopenia may contribute to growth impairment in pediatric NT survivors, warranting routine muscle mass monitoring.
- BMI alone is insufficient to detect muscle loss in children with neuroblastic tumors undergoing treatment.
- Even disease-free high-risk NT survivors show progressive decline in muscle mass during follow-up.
Written by the GCMD Library team from the article.
Abstract
Purpose
To elucidate the clinical significance of sarcopenia in children with neuroblastic tumors (NTs).
Methods
We conducted a retrospective observational study and analyzed the z-scores for height, body weight, body mass index, and skeletal muscle index (HT-z, BW-z, BMI-z, and SMI-z) along with the clinical characteristics of 36 children with NTs. SMI-z was calculated from 138 computed tomography scans at diagnosis, during treatment, and at follow-up. The International Neuroblastoma Risk Group classification was used to identify high-risk groups. We analyzed the data at diagnosis for prognostic analysis and changes over time after diagnosis in the HT-z, BW-z, BMI-z, and SMI-z groups.
Results
Among the four parameters at diagnosis, only SMI-z predicted overall survival (hazard ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.34–0.99). SMI-z, HT-z, and BW-z significantly decreased over time after diagnosis (P < 0.05), while BMI-z did not (P = 0.11). In surviving high-risk NT cases without disease, SMI-z, HT-z, and BW-z significantly decreased over time (P < 0.05), while BMI-z did not (P = 0.43).
Conclusion
In children with NT, the SMI-z at diagnosis was a significant prognostic factor and decreased during treatment and follow-up along with HT-z and BW-z. Monitoring muscle mass is important because sarcopenia may be associated with growth impairment.