Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31508983›Full record

SynthesisAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England2020

Sarcopenia does not affect postoperative complication rates in oesophageal cancer surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

D Schizas, M Frountzas, I Lidoriki, E Spartalis, K Toutouzas, D Dimitroulis, T Liakakos, K S Mylonas

Open access · greenAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
3.5field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

D SchizasFirst Department of Surgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laikon General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
M FrountzasFirst Department of Surgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laikon General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
I LidorikiFirst Department of Surgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laikon General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
E SpartalisLaboratory of Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
K ToutouzasFirst Propaedeutic Department of Surgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Hippocration General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
D DimitroulisSecond Propedeutic Department of Surgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laiko General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
T LiakakosFirst Department of Surgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Laikon General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
K S MylonasSchool of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens · GRLaiko General Hospital of Athens · GRAristotle University of Thessaloniki · GRHippocration General Hospital · GR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThe high morbidity and mortality rates after oesophagectomy indicate the need for rigorous patient selection and preoperative risk assessment. Although muscle mass depletion has been proposed as a potential prognostic factor for postoperative complications and decreased survival in gastrointestinal cancer patients, available data are conflicting. The purpose of the present meta-analysis is to determine whether sarcopenia predicts postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing oesophagectomy.

methodsThe databases MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Clinicaltrials.gov, CENTRAL and Google Scholar were searched for studies reporting on the effect of sarcopenia on postoperative outcomes following oesophageal cancer surgery. Outcomes included surgical complications, anastomotic leakage, respiratory complications, cardiovascular complications, postoperative infections, major complications and overall complications. The random effects model (DerSimonian-Laird) was used to calculate pooled effect estimates when high heterogeneity was encountered, otherwise the fixed-effects (Mantel-Haenszel) model was implemented.

findingsA total of eight studies involving 1488 patients diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and who underwent oesophagectomy were included in the meta-analysis. The presence of sarcopenia did not significantly increase the rate of surgical complications (odds ratio, OR, 0.86, 95% confidence interval, CI, 0.40-1.85), anastomotic leakage (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.42-1.35), respiratory complications (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.21-1.48), cardiovascular complications (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.31-2.83), postoperative infection (OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.52-2.50), major complications (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.23-2.82) or overall postoperative complications (OR 0.80, 95% 0.32-1.99).

conclusionSarcopenia does not seem to affect postoperative complication rates of patients undergoing oesophagectomy for oesophageal cancer. Future research should focus on determining whether prognosis differs according to muscle mass in this patient population.

Indexed as

Anastomotic LeakEsophageal NeoplasmsEsophagectomyHumansPostoperative ComplicationsPrognosisSarcopeniaMeta-analysisOesophageal cancerPostoperative complicationsSarcopenia

Identifiers

PMID31508983
PMCPMC6996429
OpenAlexW2972991436

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.