56 Background: Systemic chemotherapy can cause loss of skeletal muscle mass in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients in the neoadjuvant and palliative settings. However, it is largely unknown how the body composition is changed by chemotherapy rendering unresectable CRC to resectable disease or how it affects the prognosis. This study aimed at elucidating the effects of systemic chemotherapy on skeletal muscles and survival in stage IV CRC patients who underwent conversion therapy. Methods: We reviewed 98 stage IV CRC patients who received systemic chemotherapy in our hospital. According to the treatment setting, patients were divided into the ‘Conversion’, ‘Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC)’, and ‘Palliation’ groups. The cross-sectional area of skeletal muscles at the third lumbar level and changes in the skeletal muscle index (SMI), defined as the area divided by height squared, during chemotherapy were compared among patient groups. The effects of these parameters on prognosis were analyzed in the Conversion group. Results: The mean SMI increased by 8.0% during chemotherapy in the Conversion group (n = 38), whereas it decreased by 6.2% in the NAC group (n = 18) and 3.7% in the Palliation group (n = 42, p < 0.0001). Moreover, patients with increased SMI during chemotherapy had a better overall survival (OS) than those whose SMI decreased in the Conversion group (p = 0.021). The increase in SMI was an independent predictor of favorable OS on multivariate analysis (hazard ratio: 0.26). Conclusions: Stage IV CRC patients who underwent conversion to resection often had an increased SMI. As such an increase in SMI further conveys a survival benefit in conversion therapy, it may be important to make efforts to preserve muscle mass by meticulous approaches, such as nutritional support, muscle exercise programs, and pharmacological intervention even during chemotherapy in patients with metastatic CRC.
Ridding Canadian medicine of conversion therapy
