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Prognostic impact of sarcopenia in children with cancer: a focus on the psoas muscle area (PMA) imaging in the clinical practice

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 76, pages 783–788 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Skeletal muscle plays a crucial part in the metabolic and inflammatory response. “Sarcopenia”, defined as a pathological condition of reduced strength, quantity and quality of skeletal muscle mass, may often develop in the young age as the secondary consequence of a systemic inflammatory illness, like cancer. In children with cancer, sarcopenia is a common finding, playing a negative role in their prognosis. However, its prevalence in clinical practice is underestimated. Moreover, several pre- and post-natal factors may influence skeletal muscle development in childhood, making the issue more complex. Given the frequent use of radiological imaging in clinical practice, prompt analysis of body composition is feasible and able to detect the presence of reduced fat-free mass (FFM) among pediatric patients with cancer. We discuss the recent advances in the study of body composition in children with cancer, dissecting the role of the psoas muscle area (PMA) measure, obtained from computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance images (MRI) as a marker of sarcopenia in this setting. Since age and sex-specific percentile curves for PMA and a PMA z-scores calculator are available online, such a tool may be useful to simply detect and treat sarcopenia and its consequences in childhood cancer.

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Fig. 1: Pre- and post-natal influences on skeletal muscle development.
Fig. 2: Sarcopenia in pediatric patients with cancer.
Fig. 3: Psoas muscle areas (PMA) in a CT axial slice at L3–L4 level.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UOSD di Oncologia Pediatrica, Dipartimento di scienze della salute della donna, del bambino e di sanità pubblica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168, Rome, Italy

    Silvia Triarico, Giorgio Attinà & Antonio Ruggiero

  2. UOC di Nutrizione Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168, Rome, Italy

    Emanuele Rinninella & Maria Cristina Mele

  3. Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia traslazionale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo F. Vito 1, Rome, Italy

    Maria Cristina Mele

  4. Scuola di Specializzazione in Scienza dell’Alimentazione, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, Rome, Italy

    Marco Cintoni

  5. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Sanità pubblica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo F. Vito 1, Rome, Italy

    Antonio Ruggiero

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  1. Silvia Triarico
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MCM designed the overall study with contributions from MC. ST and GA wrote the paper. AR revised the paper. ER discussed and edited the paper. All authors finally approve the paper.

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Correspondence to Silvia Triarico.

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Triarico, S., Rinninella, E., Mele, M.C. et al. Prognostic impact of sarcopenia in children with cancer: a focus on the psoas muscle area (PMA) imaging in the clinical practice. Eur J Clin Nutr 76, 783–788 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-021-01016-y

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