The prognostic impact of sarcopenia and systemic inflammation in head and neck cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

Sarcopenia independently predicts poor survival outcomes in patients with R/M HNC undergoing ICI therapy, whereas conventional inflammatory markers such as NLR, PLR, and LMR, alone or in combination with sarcopenia, lack independent prognostic value. Routine pre-treatment evaluation of skeletal muscle mass using CT imaging may offer a practical and effective tool for patient risk stratification.