Article: Does sarcopenia predict perioperative mortality in patients with advanced ovarian cancer?
All types of ovarian cancers hold a high risk of morbidity and mortality for the patients. Currently, there are many efforts to assess ovarian cancer progression, to allow for the development of accurate treatment and management plans for preventing mortality in the long-term. A physical indicator of increased vulnerability is frailty. Frailty can lead to falls, hospitalisation and increased risk of death. Generally, frailty is closely associated with poor prognosis and shorter progression-free survival in many conditions, including ovarian cancer. However, diagnosing frailty is complex, due to a lack of a set definition and due to comorbidities appearing in older patients. Although this study draws useful conclusions, its limitation holds that some confounding factors could not be adjusted for, meaning further research is needed to understand the interplay between ovarian cancer and frailty.
This review by Can E et al. aimed to understand the prognostic value of frailty to predict complications and mortality in patients with ovarian cancer.
Key learnings
Generally, it was found that patients with sarcopenia suffered worse surgical outcomes and higher rates of post-operative complications, in comparison to patients without sarcopenia. Furthermore, sarcopenic patients also had higher rates of post-operative mortality and longer hospital stays.
Reviewed by: Z. Beketova
Authors: Can E, Sönmez S, Konal M et al.
Published in: Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2022
