Assessment of muscle mass depletion in chronic liver disease; dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry compared with computed tomography

Malnutrition and depletion of muscle mass is common in patients with chronic liver disease but there is no generally preferred method for diagnosing malnutrition. Sarcopenia is defined by European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism as “a syndrome of its own characterized by the progressive and generalised loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength and function (performance) with a consequent risk of adverse out-comes” [1]. Sarcopenia is associated with mortality on the waiting list for liver transplantation [2] and has an impact on duration of hospitalization [3] and post-transplant infection risk [4].

Source: Nutrition - November 13, 2018 Category: Nutrition Authors: Catarina Lindqvist, Torkel B. Brismar, Ammar Majeed, Staffan Wahlin Source Type: research