ArticleWorld journal of surgical oncology2025
Sarcopenia predicts poor long-term survival but not postoperative complications in gastric cancer surgery: an 18-year retrospective cohort study.
Article in World journal of surgical oncology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Preoperative Skeletal Muscle Index as an Independent Predictor of Anastomotic Leakage After Colorectal Cancer Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Perioperative phase angle decline is associated with postoperative sarcopenia in esophageal cancer: a longitudinal cohort study with internal validation.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Visceral adiposity rather than BMI predicts overall survival after curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer: a retrospective cohort study with age-stratified analyses.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionSarcopenia, defined as the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function, is common in gastric cancer (GC) patients and has been associated with adverse outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of sarcopenia on postoperative complications, mortality, and long-term survival following gastrectomy for GC.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of 337 patients who underwent gastrectomy with curative intent at a single tertiary centre between 2000 and 2017. Sarcopenia was defined using CT-based skeletal muscle index at the L3 level, threshold values of ≤ 39 cm²/m² for women and ≤ 55 cm²/m² for men. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS). Postoperative complication burden assessed using the Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI), along with 30- and 90-day mortality and, disease-specific survival (DSS), and disease-free survival (DFS) formed secondary outcomes.
resultsSarcopenia was present in 174 (51.6%) and 163 (48.4%) patients were defined as non-sarcopenic. Complication burden, 30- and 90-day mortality, and DSS/DFS did not differ by sarcopenia status. In the overall cohort, sarcopenia was not independently associated with OS. However, a significant sarcopenia × stage interaction was observed: sarcopenia predicted poorer OS in stage 0-II patients (HR 1.82, 95% CI 1.05-3.17, P = 0.034) but not in stage III-IV disease.
conclusionsSarcopenia was not associated with increased postoperative morbidity or short-term mortality, but in stage 0-II GC it was an adverse prognostic factor, conferring an 82% higher risk of death. Routine CT-based assessment may help identify high-risk early-stage patients who could benefit from timely nutritional and physical interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.