The impact of the muscle mass-to-fat ratio on the prognosis of patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer

To evaluate the relationship between the muscle mass-to-fat ratio (MMFR) at the third lumbar spine (L3) and overall survival (OS) as well as related complications after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for pancreatic cancer. Patients who underwent PD for pancreatic cancer between March 2017 and May 2023 at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University were included. Muscle mass and fat content at the L3 were measured by computed tomography. The specific formula that was used to calculate the MMFR was total abdominal muscle area/(subcutaneous adipose tissue area + visceral adipose tissue area), and the optimal cutoff values of the MMFR based on receiver operating characteristic curves were 0.688 for males and 0.382 for females. Patient characteristics were collected, and multivariate analyses were used to evaluate the impact of the MMFR on prognosis. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and log-rank tests were used to compare OS between the high-MMFR and low-MMFR groups. On the basis of the optimal cutoff values, 191 patients were divided into two groups, with 91 patients in the low-MMFR group and 100 patients in the high-MMFR group. The incidence of POPF was significantly greater in the low-MMFR group than in the high-MMFR group. According to multivariate analysis, the MMFR was an independent factor associated with POPF and OS. Patients with low MMFRs had significantly shorter OS and a greater POPF incidence than did those with high MMFRs. The MMFR is an independent predictor of POPF and affects the OS of patients undergoing PD for pancreatic cancer.