Background: Preoperative sarcopenia is associated with a poor long‐term prognosis in patients with gastric cancer (GC). Most GC patients rapidly lose muscle mass after gastrectomy. This retrospective cohort study analysed the effect of postoperative muscle loss and surgery‐induced sarcopenia on the long‐term outcomes of patients with GC.Methods: Preoperative and postoperative 1 year abdominal computed tomography scans were available for 1801 GC patients who underwent curative gastrectomy between January 2009 and December 2013 at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. The patients were categorized into normal, presarcopenia, and sarcopenia groups according to the skeletal muscle index (SMI) measured on computed tomography scans. Patients who were not sarcopenic prior to gastrectomy but became sarcopenic after surgery were defined as the surgery‐induced sarcopenia group.Results: There were 1227 men and 574 women included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 59.5 ± 12.3 years. Multivariable Cox‐regression analyses showed that preoperative SMI was not associated with overall survival (OS). However, postoperative sarcopenia was associated with significantly worse OS only in men [hazard ratio (HR), 1.75; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08–2.85]. SMI loss was an independent risk factor for OS in the entire cohort and in men (HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 1.00–1.02, for the entire cohort; HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01–1.04, for men). The surgery‐induced sarcopenia group was associated with significantly higher mortality (HR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.16–2.90, for the cohort; HR, 2.73; 95% CI, 1.54–4.82, for men), although SMI loss and surgery‐induced sarcopenia were not risk factors in women. Similar results were obtained for relapse‐free survival.Conclusions: Postoperative muscle mass loss and surgery‐induced sarcopenia are prognostic factors for survival in patients with GC. Impact of postoperative muscle mass loss and surgery‐induced sarcopenia on survival outcomes is dependent on the sex.

Lee JK, et al. Ann Surg Treat Res. 2024 Jan;106(1):19-30. https://doi.org/10.4174/astr.2024.106.1.19

Introduction: BMI has been shown to predict perioperative outcomes in patients undergoing surgery. Most studies assessing the role of body habitus in thyroid surgery have focused on open surgery, with few studies assessing patients undergoing robotic surgery. The present study evaluated the effects of BMI on surgical outcomes in patients undergoing bilateral axillo-breast approach (BABA) robotic thyroidectomy. Materials and methods: This study included patients who underwent BABA robotic thyroidectomy between January 2013 and September 2021 at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. Patients were categorized into six groups based on the WHO classification of overweight and obesity. Clinicopathological characteristics, postoperative complications, and surgical outcomes were evaluated. Results: A total of 1921 patients were included. Comparisons of the six BMI groups showed no statistically significant differences in postoperative stay, resection margin involvement, postoperative complications, and recurrence. Subgroup analysis showed that hypocalcemia rates differed among BMI groups in patients who underwent lobectomy, with underweight and class II obese patients being at the highest risk (P=0.006). However, the actual number of complications was relatively small and similar among the groups. In patients who underwent total thyroidectomy and isthmectomy, BMI was not correlated with postoperative complications, including hypocalcemia, recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, postoperative bleeding, and chyle leakage. Conclusion: Body habitus was not significantly associated with operative time and postoperative complications in patients undergoing BABA robotic thyroidectomy, indicating that this approach is safe and feasible in obese patients.

Background: This study investigated the prevalence and subtype distribution of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) before and after thyroidectomy to determine the potential of CTC count as a noninvasive marker of the efficacy of surgical treatment in PTC. Materials and methods: Between January 2021 and January 2022, 62 PTC patients who underwent thyroidectomy at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital were prospectively evaluated. Peripheral blood samples (7.5 ml) were collected from each patient for CTC analysis before surgery and at 2 weeks and 3 months after surgery. CTC count and the distribution of CTC subtypes, including epithelial, epithelial-mesenchymal, and mesenchymal phenotypes, were analyzed using the negative selection method and immunofluorescence staining. The relationship between CTC count and clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed before and after surgery. Results: Before surgery, CTCs were detected in 87% (54/62) of patients; the mean CTC count was 8.0 and the median was 5.0 in 7.5 ml of peripheral blood. The mesenchymal or epithelial-mesenchymal phenotypes were predominant. After thyroidectomy, the mean and median CTC count values decreased to 5.3 and 2.5, respectively, at 2 weeks and to 4.3 and 3.0, respectively, at 3 months. This postoperative reduction in CTCs was more pronounced in patients with lymphatic invasion, lymph node metastasis, or BRAF V600E mutation. Conclusion: CTCs were detected in patients with PTC with a predominance of cells undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition. The CTC count decreased postoperatively, suggesting that liquid biopsy with CTC detection could be a valuable noninvasive tool for monitoring the efficacy of surgery in PTC.

Choi JB, et al. Ann Surg Treat Res. 2024 Apr;106(4):203-210. https://doi.org/10.4174/astr.2024.106.4.203

Lee JK, et al. Ann Surg Treat Res. 2021 Aug;101(2):93-101. https://doi.org/10.4174/astr.2021.101.2.93