Using ultrasound (US) to evaluate sarcopenic obesity in patients with cirrhosis may offer accuracy on par with computed tomography (CT), according to investigators.
US-based assessment presents a more affordable point-of-care strategy that limits radiation exposure, which enables sequential monitoring, reported lead author Sukhpal Dhariwal, MBBS, MD, of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
“Preliminary data in patients with liver disease ... suggest that US muscle assessment–derived indices, especially thigh muscle thickness, identify sarcopenia CT-skeletal muscle index (SMI) and also predict hospitalization and mortality,” the investigators wrote in Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology. “However, the applicability of US-based techniques to measure muscle mass in the high-risk group of patients with cirrhosis and sarcopenic obesity has not been evaluated.”
To address this knowledge gap, the investigators performed both US- and CT-based muscle assessments in 52 patients with obesity and evidence of cirrhosis; 40 patients were male and the mean age was 50.9 years. In all, 20 (38.5%) were diagnosed with sarcopenia based on CT-determined SMI scores of less than 39 cm2/m2 for women and 50 cm2/m2 for men.
US showed that it was similarly capable of categorizing patients. The modality significantly differentiated individuals with or without sarcopenia based on high area under the curve values in four muscle indices: quadriceps muscle thickness (0.98), quadriceps muscle feather index (0.95), forearm muscle thickness (0.85), and forearm feather index (0.80).
Direct comparison of US-based assessment against CT-based SMI revealed positive correlations, with significant r values ranging from 0.40 to 0.58. These correlations were stronger in a male-only subgroup analysis, in which r values ranged from 0.52 to 0.70. R values were not calculated in the female subgroup because of the small sample size (n = 12).
The investigators adjusted indices for height, which may pose bias for overestimating muscle mass. Another limitation is the small sample size.
“US-based assessment of sarcopenia has excellent diagnostic accuracy and correlates highly with cross-sectional imaging-based SMI in cirrhosis patients with sarcopenic obesity,” the investigators concluded. “US may serve as an easy-to-use, point-of-care tool for assessing sarcopenia in sarcopenic obesity with the advantage of repeated sequential assessment.”
According to Jamile Wakim-Fleming, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, “US-based muscle mass assessment seems to be reliable, reproducible, and simple to perform and should be encouraged along with nutrition assessments in all patients with cirrhosis and obesity.”
Dr. Jamile Wakim-Fleming
In a written comment, Dr. Wakim-Fleming noted the importance of timely monitoring and intervention in this patient population.
“Considering the morbidity and the poor outcomes associated with sarcopenic obesity and its frequency in cirrhosis, it is important to make early diagnosis and institute a management plan to improve muscle mass and function,” she said.
The study was supported the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the American Medical Association, and the American Heart Association. The investigators disclosed additional relationships with Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novartis. Dr. Wakim-Fleming reported no relevant conflicts of interest.