Sarcopenia does not affect liver regeneration and postoperative course after a major hepatectomy. A prospective study on 125 patients using CT volumetry and HIDA scintigraphy.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Sarcopenia is a morbi-mortality risk factor in digestive surgery, though its impact after major hepatectomy (MH) remains unknown. This prospective pilot study investigated whether volume and function of a regenerating liver is influenced by body composition. METHODS From 2011 to 2016, 125 consecutive patients had computed tomography and 99mTc-labelled-mebrofenin SPECT-scintigraphy before and after MH at day 7 and 1 month for measurements of liver volumes and functions. L3 vertebra muscle mass identified sarcopenia. Primary endpoint was the impact of sarcopenia on regeneration capacities (i.e. volume/function changes and post-hepatectomy liver failure (PHLF) rate). Secondary endpoint was 3-month morbi-mortality. RESULTS Sarcopenic patients (SP; N=69) were significantly older than non-sarcopenic (NSP), with lower BMI and more malignancies, but with comparable liver function/volume at baseline. Postoperatively, SP showed higher rates of ISGLS_PHLF (24.6% vs 10.9%; p=0.05) but with comparable rates of severe morbidity (23.2% vs 16.4%; p=0.35), overall (8.7% vs 3.6%; p=0.3) and PHLF-related mortality (8,7% vs 1.8%; p=0.075). After matching on the extent of resection or using propensity score, regeneration and PHLF rates were similar. CONCLUSION This prospective study using first sequential SPECT-scintigraphy showed that sarcopenia by itself does not affect liver regeneration capacities and short-term postoperative course after MH.