ABSTRACT
Skeletal muscle is the largest tissue as well as organ of human body. It is also the major form of lean mass and proteins. Loss of skeletal muscle will reduce the tolerance of illness and trauma, negatively affect clinical treatments, increase the incidence of complications and lead to decreasing of quality of life and increasing of mortality, which will affect the prognosis. Due to the factors such as the underlying disease and surgical trauma, patients undergoing surgeries face a high risk of skeletal muscle loss. However, not enough attention has been paid to the prevention and treatment of skeletal muscle loss. Based on the latest researches and his own clinical and research experience, the author discusses the epidemiologic feature of skeletal muscle loss in surgical candi-dates, and the impacts of skeletal muscle loss on prognosis, its detecting methods as well as preven-tion and treatment strategies, in order to raise the awareness of prevention and treatment of skeletal muscle in surgical patients.