The prevalence and prognostic value of low muscle mass in cancer patients: A review of the literature

Abstract

In several diseases, low muscle mass has been revealed as an unfavorable prognostic factor for out come. Whet her this holds true in patients with solid malignancies as well has increasingly been explored recently. However, this research field is severely hampered by a lack of consensus on how to determine muscle mass in cancer patients and on the definition of low muscle mass. Consequently, the prevalence of low muscle mass varies widely across several studies. Never the less, most studies show that, in patients with solid malignancies, low muscle mass is associated with a poor out come. In the future, more research is needed to get better insight into the best method to determine muscle ma..