Body composition among patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer

Introduction
Nutritional status assessment is an important part of preoperative patient evaluation, but the standard anthropometric parameters do not appear to be adequate. Aim: To determine the changes in the values of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) parameters in patients 3 months after undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer (CRC).

Material and methods
BIA and nutritional status assessment parameters were determined in 80 patients prior to undergoing surgery for CRC. The results 3 months after surgery for 64 of those patients were then compared with their initial assessments.

Results
According to standard WHO ranges, 54% of the patients were diagnosed as being overweight and 29% as obese. The percentage of patients categorized as obese amounted to 56% when this was defined as high fat mass. Moderate sarcopaenia, defined as a low skeletal muscle index (SMI) or low percentage of skeletal muscle mass, was diagnosed in 21% and 29% of patients, respectively. Patients with postoperative weakness that made it impossible for them to attend the control visit had a lower preoperative skeletal muscle mass (p = 0.01) and SMI value (p = 0.001). Parameters of BIA did not discriminate patients with postoperative complications, which occurred in 23% of individuals enrolled.

Conclusions
A significant proportion of the patients undergoing surgery for CRC were overweight or obese, which could mask the sarcopaenia that presented in 21–29% of them. Sarcopaenia was the only parameter predictive of a postoperative decrease in performance status.