Sarcopenia of thoracic muscle mass is not a risk factor for survival in lung transplant recipients.
BACKGROUND
In lung transplantation (LTx), patients with thoracic muscle sarcopenia may have to require longer to recovery. We measured thoracic muscle volume by using the cross sectional area (CSA) and assessed its effect on early outcomes after LTx.


METHODS
A retrospective analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of thoracic sarcopenia in patients undergoing LTx between January 2010 and July 2015. The lowest CSA quartile (Q1) was defined as sarcopenia.


RESULTS
In total, 109 patients were enrolled. The mean CSA was 58.24±15.82 cm(2). Patients in the highest CSA quartile were more likely to be male (92.6% vs. 17.9%, P<0.001), older (55.2±10.1 vs. 43.2±14.9 years, P=0.001), to have a higher body mass index (BMI) (22.3±4.0 vs. 19.4±3.7 kg/m(2), P=0.007), and to have pulmonary fibrosis (85.2% vs. 35.7%, P=0.003) compared with the lowest CSA quartile. Early outcomes including ventilator support duration [32.9±49.2 vs. 24.5±39.9 days, P= not significant (ns)], intensive care unit (ICU) stay duration (28.4±43.7 vs. 24.4±35.9 days, P= ns) and hospital stay duration (61.4±48.2 vs. 50.8±37.2 days, P= ns) tended to be longer in Q1 than Q4, but the difference was not significant. However, the 1-year survival rate was better in Q1 compared with Q4 (66.6% vs. 46.0%, P=0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
Although patients with thoracic sarcopenia seem to require a longer post-operative recovery time after LTx, this does not compromise their early outcomes. By contrast, patients with larger thoracic muscle volume (Q4) showed poorer survival times.
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea ;
Seokkee
S
Lee
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea ;
Hyo Chae
HC
Paik
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
Seok Jin
SJ
Haam
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea ;
Chang Young
CY
Lee
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea ;
Kyung Sik
KS
Nam
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea ;
Hee Suk
HS
Jung
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea ;
Young Woo
YW
Do
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea ;
Jee Won
JW
Shu
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea ;
Jin Gu
JG
Lee
Lung transplantation (LTx); cross sectional area (CSA); sarcopenia; thoracic muscles