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
. 2020 Mar;138(2):152-157.
doi: 10.1590/1516-3180.2019.0436.R1.19122019. Epub 2020 Apr 22.

Muscle depletion in cirrhotic patients assessed using computed tomography: a cross-sectional study

Elisa Sfoggia Romagna  1 , Marcelo Campos Appel-da-Silva  1 , Eiji Suwa  2 , Fabio Kunihiro Maeda  3 , Angelo Alves de Mattos  1 , Cristiane Valle Tovo  4
Affiliations

Muscle depletion in cirrhotic patients assessed using computed tomography: a cross-sectional study

Elisa Sfoggia Romagna et al. Sao Paulo Med J. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Sarcopenia is a common complication in patients with cirrhosis and may lead to increased morbidity and mortality.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia and its association with disease severity scores, among patients with cirrhosis.

Design and setting: Observational and retrospective cohort study carried out in a tertiary-care hospital in southern Brazil.

Methods: This study was conducted among patients with chronic liver disease who were followed up at the gastroenterology and hepatology outpatient clinic of a tertiary-care hospital in southern Brazil and who underwent computed tomography scans of the abdomen through any indication.

Results: We included 83 patients in the study. In the population evaluated, there was a predominance of males (57.80%) and the mean age was 56 years. Hepatitis B or C virus was present in the genesis of the disease in 34.9% of the cases, followed by an etiology of alcohol abuse (30.1%). Sarcopenia was diagnosed in 41 (49.4%) of the patients when the cutoff point for cirrhotic patients was used. There was no significant correlation between the Child-Pugh and MELD severity scores and the occurrence of sarcopenia.

Conclusion: Sarcopenia presents high prevalence among patients with chronic liver disease, without any association with predictors of severity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Cross-sectional area of third lumbar vertebra (L3) on abdominal computed tomography in a patient with sarcopenia (32.17 cm²/m²) (A) and a patient without sarcopenia (52.3 cm²/m²) (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rowe IA. Lessons from Epidemiology: The Burden of Liver Disease. Dig Dis. 2017;35(4):304–309. doi: 10.1159/000456580. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Giannousis IP, Papatheodoridis GV, Deutsch MJ, et al. The burden and recent epidemiological changes of the main chronic liver diseases in a Greek referral tertiary centre. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2010;22(2):172–179. doi: 10.1097/MEG.0b013e328331115b. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ginés P, Quintero E, Arroyo V, et al. Compensated cirrhosis: natural history and prognostic factors. Hepatology. 1987;7(1):122–128. doi: 10.1002/hep.1840070124. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zatoński WA, Sulkowska U, Mańczuk M, et al. Liver cirrhosis mortality in Europe, with special attention to Central and Eastern Europe. Eur Addict Res. 2010;16(4):193–201. doi: 10.1159/000317248. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Garcia-Tsao G, Sanyal AJ, Grace ND, et al. Prevention and management of gastroesophageal varices and variceal hemorrhage in cirrhosis. Am J Gastroenterol. 2007;102(9):2086–2102. doi: 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2007.01481.x. - DOI - PubMed