ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the clinical features of preoperative gastric cancer cachexia patients, with the focus on changes of abdominal fat distribution and serum inflammatory factors.Methods:128 gastric cancer patients admitted to General Surgery Department of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University from January 2018 to December 2018 were included. Relevant clinical information was collected, including age, gender, height, weight, hematological test results and blood lipid profiles (including free fatty acids ,FFA). Concurrent serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Areas of subcutaneous and visceral fat were both measured at umbilical level on CT. Data mentioned above were compared between gastric cancer patients with cachexia and pre-cachexia.Results:The 128 patients were divided into stable pre-cachexia group (97 patients) and cachexia group (31 patients). Compared with pre-cachexia group, patients in the cachexia group showed significant decline in BMIs (23.4±0.3 vs 21.9±0.6, t=2.359, P=0.019), apparent elevation in serum IL-6 levels [(3.73±0.32) ng/L vs(5.26±0.77) ng/L, t=2.214, P=0.036], significant decrease in lymphocyte counts [(1.67±0.05)×10 9/L vs (1.42±0.12)×10 9/L, t=2.251, P=0.026], as well as predominant decrease in total protein levels, [(64.9 ± 0.8) g/L vs (61.5±1.1) g/L, t=2.208, P=0.029], total cholesterol levels [(4.09±0.09) mmol/L vs (3.74±0.15) mmol/L, t=2.393, P=0.046] and pre-albumin levels [(0.22±0.01) g/L vs (0.19±0.01) g/L, t=1.987, P=0.049]. Additionally, there was a noticeable decrease in subcutaneous fat area [(151.6±8.73) cm 2vs (112.4±15.9) cm 2, t=2.192, P=0.042]. The other markers displayed no remarkable differences. Conclusion:Based on our investigation, it's highly suspected that IL-6 plays a more important role than TNF-α in the fat loss of gastric cancer cachexia patients, and these patients have increased lipid catabolism predominated by subcutaneous fat loss.