Prognostic and predictive implications of sarcopenia in Western patients undergoing gastric resections for carcinoma of the stomach.

INTRODUCTION: Sarcopenia is highly prevalent in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies, including gastric cancer, but there is a lack of adequate data from Western populations. METHODS: Computed tomography scans of 138 Caucasian patients subject to stomach resections due to gastric adenocarcinoma between 2012 and 2015 were reviewed to evaluate the impact of sarcopenia. The definition of sarcopenia was based on the lumbar skeletal muscle index (SMI) using cut-off values formulated by the international consensus definitions of sarcopenia (SMI <52.4 cm2 /m2 for men and <38.5 cm2 /m2 for women). RESULTS: Sixty (43%) of 138 patients were sarcopenic. Sarcopenia was associated with postoperative morbidity (43% vs 23%; P = .011), major postoperative complications (Clavien-Dindo ≥3a; 36% vs 21%; P = .035), and reoperations (23% vs 9%; P = .020). Patients with sarcopenia also had prolonged postoperative hospital stay (8.0 vs 6.5 days; P = .010). The overall median survival of patients with sarcopenia was significantly lower than those with normal skeletal muscles (11.0 vs 36.7 months; P = .005) and sarcopenia remained an independent prognostic factor with an odds ratio of 1.94 (95% confidence interval, 1.08 to 3.48; P = .026). CONCLUSION: Sarcopenia, defined by SMI, is associated with an increased risk of postoperative morbidity and impaired long-term survival.

Rationale and feasibility of mucin expression profiling by qRT-PCR as diagnostic biomarkers in cytology specimens of pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND: Aberrantly expressed mucin glycoproteins (MUC) play important roles in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), yet their use as a diagnostic aid in fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is poorly documented. The aim of this study was to investigate the rationale and feasibility of mucin (MUC1, MUC2, MUC3, MUC4, MUC5AC, and MUC6) expression profiling by RT-PCR for diagnostic applications in cytology. METHODS: Mucin expression was examined by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry in specimens resected from patients with pancreatic (n = 101), ampullary (n = 23), and common bile duct (n = 10) cancers and 33 with chronic pancreatitis. Furthermore, mucin profiling by RT-PCR was prospectively compared in surgical and biopsy specimens of 40 patients with pancreatic solid tumours qualified for FNAB prior to surgery. RESULTS: A logistic regression model to distinguish PDAC from chronic pancreatitis using RT-PCR profiling included MUC3, MUC5AC, and MUC6. The same set of mucins differentiated ampullary and bile duct cancers from chronic pancreatitis. AUCs for the ROC curves derived from the two models were 0.95 (95%CI 0.87-0.99) and 0.92 (95%CI 0.81-0.98), respectively. The corresponding positive likelihood ratios were 6.02 and 5.97, while the negative likelihood ratios were 0.10 and 0.12. AUCs of ROC curves obtained by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry demonstrated that both analytical methods were comparable. Surgical and cytological samples showed significantly correlated values of ΔCt for individual mucins with the overall Pearson's correlation coefficient r = 0.841 (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Mucin expression profiling of pancreatic cancer with RT-PCR is feasible and may be a valuable help in discriminating malignant lesions from chronic pancreatitis in FNAB cytology.