Myosteatosis independently predicts transplant-free survival in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis

• Published in: Digestive and liver disease Vol. 55; no. 11; pp. 1543 - 1547
• Main Authors: Praktiknjo, Michael, Zhou, Taotao, Krüsken, Maximiliane, Jacob, Torid, Sprinkart, Alois M., Nowak, Sebastian, Kimmann, Markus, Dold, Leona, Chang, Johannes, Jansen, Christian, Strassburg, Christian P., Luetkens, Julian, Weismüller, Tobias J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.11.2023
• ISSN: 1590-8658; 1878-3562
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dld.2023.08.037

BACKGROUNDPrimary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) is a progressive cholestatic liver disease with liver transplantation (LT) as the only curative therapy. Some regions use body-weight-loss as standard-exception criteria for organ allocation but data on the impact of body composition on survival of patients with PSC is scarce.METHODSAbdominal MRI of PSC patients were quantitatively analyzed for intramuscular fat fraction (IMFF) as surrogate of myosteatosis. Clinical and laboratory data were retrieved from patient records. Primary outcome was transplant-free survival (TFS).RESULTS116 PSC patients were included. Median age was 38 (18-71) years with 74 (64%) male patients. 15 (13%) patients had significant weigh loss. IMFF was significantly associated with survival. Multivariate regression analysis showed IMFF ≥ 15% as independent predictor for TFS (p = 0.032, HR 3.215 CI 1.104-9.366), but not significant weight loss (p = 0.618).CONCLUSIONIMFF is independently associated with TFS in patients with PSC and may identify patients with more urgent need for LT. NCT03584204.