Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Oct;11(4):376-382.
doi: 10.3892/mco.2019.1912. Epub 2019 Aug 19.

Pre-treatment psoas major volume is a predictor of poor prognosis for patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

Yuko Matsubara  1 , Keiichiro Nakamura  1 , Hirofumi Matsuoka  1 , Chikako Ogawa  1 , Hisashi Masuyama  1
Affiliations

Pre-treatment psoas major volume is a predictor of poor prognosis for patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

Yuko Matsubara et al. Mol Clin Oncol. 2019 Oct.

Abstract

Low skeletal muscle mass (sarcopenia) is an important prognostic risk factor for the outcome of a variety of cancer types. The current study investigated whether skeletal muscle area (SMA), psoas area (PA) and psoas major volume (PV) are associated with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (OC). A total of 92 OC patients were enrolled in the present study. Pre-treatment with SMA and PA was assessed using computed tomography (CT) and PV was calculated using a three-dimensional-CT (3D-CT). The clinical factors associated with sarcopenia and prognosis were retrospectively evaluated. For all patients, the median PFS and OS were 19 and 32 months, respectively. Patients exhibiting lower PV (<195.6 cm3) had significantly poorer PFS and OS compared with patients exhibiting higher PV (≥195.6 cm3; P=0.018 and P=0.006), while those with low SMA (<92.92 cm2) had significantly worse OS than patients with higher SMA (≥92.92 cm2; P=0.030). PV was also demonstrated to be superior to SMA and PA in prognosis prediction. PV by 3D-CT can serve as an indicator of poor prognosis in patients with OC.

Keywords: low skeletal muscle mass; ovarian cancer; prognostic factor; psoas area; psoas major volume; skeletal muscle area.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Study cohort selection flow chart. Flow chart indicated the selection of the study cohort. CT, computed tomography.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Sarcopenia images, regression analysis and associations with ovarian cancer. (A) Patient with sarcopenia. Pre-treatment SMA (102.71 cm2), PA (10.73 cm2) and PV (191.0 cm3) measured according to attenuation thresholds of −29 to +150 Hounsfield units. (B) Regression analysis for PA and SMA, SMA and PV, and PV and PA for 92 patients with ovarian cancer. (C) Associations of GPS and SMA, PA, and PV with ovarian cancer. SMA, skeletal muscle area; PA, psoas area; PV, psoas major volume; GPS, Glasgow prognostic score.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Kaplan-Meier curves. Kaplan-Meier curves for PFS and OS rates of 92 patients with ovarian cancer according to their pre-treatment SMA, PA and PV. PFS, progression-free survival; OS, overall survival; SMA, skeletal muscle area; PA, psoas area; PV, psoas major volume.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Cancer Society. American Cancer Society; Atlanta, GA: 2009. Cancer Facts & Figures 2009.
    1. Ushijima K. Current status of gynecologic cancer in Japan. J Gynecol Oncol. 2000;20:67–71. doi: 10.3802/jgo.2009.20.2.67. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fathalla MF. Factors in the causation and incidence of ovarian cancer. Obstet Gynecol Surv. 1972;27:751–768. doi: 10.1097/00006254-197211000-00001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vergote IB, Kaern J, Abeler VM, Pettersen EO, De Vos LN, Tropé CG. Analysis of prognostic factors in stage I epithelial ovarian carcinoma: Importance of degree of differentiation and deoxyribonucleic acid ploidy in predicting relapse. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1993;169:40–52. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(93)90129-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Martin L, Birdsell L, Macdonald N, Reiman T, Clandinin MT, McCargar LJ, Murphy R, Ghosh S, Sawyer MB, Baracos VE. Cancer cachexia in the age of obesity: Skeletal muscle depletion is a powerful prognostic factor, independent of body mass index. J Clin Oncol. 2013;31:1539–1547. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2012.45.2722. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources