Sarcopenia in metastatic cancer patients: results of a prospective non-randomized study.

Abstract Background Prognostic factors can impact the quality of life and overall survival in metastatic situations: sarcopenia and nutritional status disorders. Methods We conducted a non-interventional, observational prospective study during 3 consecutive months (SPACE trial, ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04714203). Performance status, lumbar skeletal muscle index (by CT scan), albumin, C-reactive protein, or LDH, were collected from medical records in the classic balance sheet at inclusion and then at 3 and 6 months after the day of inclusion. Results 38 patients were included with a median age of 68 years old and 31 were evaluable for sarcopenia. 58.1% of patients with metastatic cancer were sarcopenic at the diagnosis and 61% at 6 months. At the inclusion, 87.5% of sarcopenic patients were men (p < 0.0002) and sarcopenia status was associated with lung localization (p < 0.0332) and non-operable cancer (p < 0.0069). Conclusion The majority of patients in our study were sarcopenic at the inclusion and at 6 months. However, the number of patients was too small to correlate sarcopenia with survival. Further larger studies are needed to establish stronger results. In the future, sarcopenic patients could benefit from specialized care with nutrition and adapted physical activity.