Clinical impact of preoperative sarcopenia and immunonutritional impairment on postoperative outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer surgery

Objectives: This study aimed to clarify the relationship between preoperative sarcopenia and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) statuses and clinicopathological factors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who underwent surgical resection, and to evaluate short- and long-term outcomes by stratifying groups according to sarcopenia and PNI status as prognostic predictors.

Materials and methods: This study included 300 patients with p-Stage I-IIIA NSCLC who underwent complete resection with lobectomy. Sarcopenia was assessed using the skeletal muscle index (SMI) and the immunonutritional index was evaluated using the PNI. The first quartile was used as the cutoff for the sarcopenia/non-sarcopenia and low/high-PNI groups.

Results: The median patient age was 70 years, and 184 patients (61.3 %) were male individuals. The median PNI was 50.2, and the median SMI was 48.1 and 37.5 for male and female patients, respectively. The median follow-up period was 64 months (60 patients died). Survival analysis showed that overall survival was significantly worse in the sarcopenia and low-PNI groups than in the control group (p = 0.002 and p < 0.001, respectively). When stratified by sarcopenia and PNI status, the sarcopenia with low-PNI group had a particularly poor prognosis (5-year survival rate, 52.8 % [p < 0.001]). Multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed that sarcopenia with low PNI was an independent prognostic factor that indicated a poor outcome. The response to drug treatment for postoperative recurrence was significantly worse in the sarcopenia with low-PNI group than inthe other group.

Conclusion: The combination of preoperative sarcopenia and immunonutritional impairment had a negative clinical impact independent of tumor factors, and patients with these two indications had a particularly poor prognosis. These factors may be associated with poor responses to drug treatment for postoperative recurrence. The evaluation of skeletal muscle mass using preoperative imaging and nutritional assessment using serum markers may be useful for perioperative management and prognosis prediction.