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Objective: To investigated the association between sarcopenia and the prognosis and adverse events of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing interventional therapy combined with immunotherapy and targeted therapy. Methods: Between January 2019 and December 2022, patients with unresectable HCC who received interventional therapy combined with immunotherapy and targeted therapy were included in this study. Total skeletal muscle area at the L3 level was normalized for height in m 2 as the skeletal muscle index (SMI). All patients were divided into low and high SMI group according to the median SMI. Results: Ninety-six consecutive patients were included eventually, with 49 patients in the high-SMI group and 47 patients in the low-SMI group. In the low-SMI group, the median overall survival (OS) was 459.00 days (95% CI, 334.76– 583.24 days), and the 3-, 6-, and 12-month OS rates were 100%, 89.4% and 68.1%, respectively. In the high-SMI group, the median OS was not reached, and the 3-, 6-, and 12-month OS rates were 100%, 98% and 79.5%, respectively ( p 0.05). Conclusion: SMI is associated with the prognosis of HCC patients receiving interventional therapy combined with immunotherapy and targeted therapy, and sarcopenia is an independent risk factor for OS. However, sarcopenia does not seem to predict the occurrence of adverse events. Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, sarcopenia, immune checkpoint inhibitors, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, transarterial chemoembolization
Yang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.