Impact of surgery for gastric carcinoma
In collaboration with the Department of Radiology and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery, Lisa Murnane conducted a retrospective cohort study using pre-operative CT (computed tomography) scans to investigate whether low skeletal muscle mass (sarcopenia) or nutritional status is associated with postoperative outcomes after resection of gastric carcinoma.
Results show that although the majority of patients were within or above the healthy weight range, 46% met ICD-10 (the international statistical classification of disease) criteria for malnutrition.
The finding that 63% were sarcopenic underscored the high prevalence of skeletal muscle depletion in this population; this is not evident using traditional weightbased assessments. This study showed that sarcopenia is more common in gastrectomy patients than other patient groups