Low skeletal muscle mass predicts poor prognosis for patients with stage III cervical cancer on concurrent chemoradiotherapy.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether low skeletal muscle mass before initial treatment is an independent prognostic factor defining overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients diagnosed with stage III cervical cancer.

METHODS: Body composition and clinicopathologic data were collected retrospectively. Information was extracted and analyzed from the medical records of 92 patients with stage III cervical cancer and undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Skeletal muscle mass in the L3 region was measured using cross-sectional computed tomography images and corrected for body surface area to calculate the skeletal muscle index (SMI). The primary outcome was OS, and the secondary outcome was PFS. Statistical analyses were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine OS and PFS. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed with Cox proportional hazard ratios.

RESULTS: The optimal cutoff value for predicting 5-y survival was 35.6 cm2 /m2 , defined based on data derived from 24 patients with a low SMI and 68 patients without a low SMI. A low SMI was significantly associated with shorter OS (hazard ratio [HR], 2.470; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.208-5.053; P = 0.013), with no significant difference in PFS (HR, 1.651; 95% CI, 0.876-3.110; P = 0.121). Multivariate analysis also identified a low SMI as an independent OS-defining prognostic factor (HR, 2.473; 95% CI, 1.151-5.314; P = 0.020).

CONCLUSION: A low pretreatment SMI is an independent prognostic factor for OS in patients diagnosed with stage III cervical cancer and treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy.