• Seray Gizem Gur Ozcan, Turgut Kacan, Nurcan Kat Kacmaz, Busra Gundogan, Irem Hilal Vurgec, and Serra Ozyildirim.
• Bursa Yuksek Ihtisas Education and Research Hospital, Department of Radiology - Bursa, Turkey.
• Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2023 Jan 1; 69 (12): e20230568e20230568.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the impact of sarcopenia on prognosis in patients with gastric cancer in order to explore the relationship between sarcopenia and postoperative complications as well as durations of hospital stay and intensive care unit.MethodsA total of 175 patients who visited the oncology clinic between 2017 and 2022 with respect to their radiological images, demographic data, and laboratory parameters were perused. The OsiriX software was used to measure the skeletal muscle area that was divided by the body height in order to obtain the skeletal muscle index.ResultsA total of 50.28% of 175 patients (41 females and 134 males, with a mean age of 63.5 years) who met the inclusion criteria in the study were sarcopenic. Significant differences appeared between sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic patients with respect to durations of both hospital stay (p<0.01) and intensive care unit stay (p<0.01) (multivariate analysis). Furthermore, patients with sarcopenia had significantly frequent postoperative complications in comparison with those without sarcopenia. Among the patients with sarcopenia, decreased levels of hemoglobin and albumin as well as lymphocytes were encountered in terms of inflammatory markers; nevertheless, no significant differences were determined among other inflammatory markers.ConclusionIn patients undergoing treatment for gastric cancer, sarcopenia increases postoperative complications and prolongs hospital and intensive care stays during the treatment process.

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