Temporal muscle thickness (TMT) is an independent prognostic parameter in patients with newly diagnosed brain metastases (BM) of breast cancer (BC)

Background

Sarcopenia has been described as objectively measurable parameter indicating frailty and adverse prognosis in several cancer types. We thus hypothesized that TMT may serve as surrogate marker of frailty.

Methods

189 BC patients (luminal A: 45/189 (23.8%); HER2: 75/189 (39.7%); triple negative: 35/189 (18.5%); unknown subtype: 34/189 (18.0%), all female with a median age of 54 years (range 30-85) and newly diagnosed BM were identified from a BM database. Clinical characteristics including survival times were retrieved from chart review. Diagnosis specific graded prognostic assessment (DS-GPA) was calculated based on clinical characteristics. Baseline TMT at diagnosis of BM was measured in MRI (axial plane of isovoxel (1x1x1mm), T1 – weighted images) at diagnosis of BM.

Results

Median TMT was 5.4 mm (range 1.65 – 10.50 mm) and showed no correlation with age (correlation coefficient -0.341; p 

Conclusions

TMT, which can serve as a surrogate parameter of sarcopenia, is an independent predictor of survival in patients with newly diagnosed BC BM. TMT is easily and reproducibly assessable in routine MR images and may help to better define frail patient populations and may thus facilitate patient management by supporting patient selection for therapeutic measures or clinical trials.

Clinical trial identification

Legal entity responsible for the study

Medical University of Vienna

Funding

Medical University of Vienna

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.