Influence of Sarcopenia on Mortality and Disease Progression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated With Ablation, Embolization and Sorafenib

Liver cancer poses a major threat to the global cancer burden, and the number of deaths is estimated to be more than one million annually by 2030. Locoregional therapies such as transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), transarterial radioembolization (TARE), and radiation are associated with improved survival and quality of life for patients with unresectable HCC [Couri and Pillai, 2019]. However, curative therapies or locoregional therapies are not applicable to approximately 50% of HCC cases who are diagnosed at an advanced stage and have progression with transarterial therapies [Park et al., 2015]. For these patients, sorafenib, lenvatinib, and atezolizumab combined with bevacizumab have been approved as the first-line systemic therapy [Fan et al., 2022].

Sarcopenia is a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disease characterized by accelerated loss of muscle mass and function [Cruz-Jentoft and Sayer, 2019]. It has been associated with higher mortality among the general population and patients with cancer. This study aims to assess the possible role of sarcopenia in predicting the outcome of HCC patients following a variety of treatments including local ablation, TACE and sorafenib.