Effect of handgrip strength on clinical outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with Lenvatinib

Abstract

Previous studies have reported prognostic factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients receiving lenvatinib; however, no studies have evaluated the effects of both handgrip strength and skeletal muscle mass on the clinical outcomes. Therefore, this retrospective study investigated the individual effect of handgrip strength, skeletal muscle mass, and sarcopenia on clinical outcomes of 53 HCC patients treated with lenvatinib. Before receiving lenvatinib, handgrip strength and skeletal muscle index (SMI) were measured. Low handgrip strength and muscle depletion were defined as <26 and <18 kg and SMI < 42 and SMI < 38 cm2/m2 in men and women, respectively. Sarcopenia was defined as having low handgrip strength and muscle depletion. Multivariate analysis identified modified albumin-bilirubin grade 1-2a (p = 0.010), Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage A-B (p = 0.011), and absence of low handgrip strength (p = 0.015) as favorable prognostic factors for survival. Furthermore, sarcopenia was an independent significant prognostic factor for survival. Time to treatment failure was associated with handgrip strength and sarcopenia. Our findings suggest that handgrip strength may be a useful marker of clinical outcomes in HCC patients treated with lenvatinib.