Effect of sarcopenia on liver cirrhosis with complicating esophageal and gastric varices after endoscopic therapy

Abstract Background: Several investigators have reported that sarcopenia is common in patients with cirrhosis. However, few studies have discussed the association between sarcopenia and liver cirrhosis complicated with esophageal and gastric variceal bleeding (LC-EGVB). We aimed to investigate the impact of sarcopenia on rebleeding after endoscopic therapy in patients with LC-EGVB. Method: CT images from the 3 rd lumbar vertebrae were selected to analyze body composition, including SMT VAT and SAT, by SliceOmatic software. Sarcopenia was defined according to validated cutoff values for patients with cirrhosis: 44.77 cm 2 /m 2 for males and 32.50 cm 2 /m 2 for females. Results: A total of 187 LC-EGVB patients and 309 donors were included. The rate of sarcopenia in donors (17.4%) was significantly lower than that in LC-EGVB patients (41.2%). LC-EGVB patients with sarcopenia have a high prevalence of portal vein thrombosis and rebleeding rate at 1 year. The rate of sarcopenia in the rebleeding group was significantly higher than that in the non-rebleeding group. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that sarcopenia was an independent risk factor for rebleeding within 1 year in LC-EGVB patients. Conclusion: LC-EGVB patients have a high prevalence of sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is an independent risk factor for rebleeding within 1 year.