Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
European Journal of Cancer Care, cilt.2026, sa.1, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus)
Purpose: The aim of this study is to assess the presence of sarcopenia in multiple myeloma (MM) patients both before and after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) and to investigate if ASCT is a causative factor for sarcopenia. This study is the first to examine the impact of ASCT on sarcopenia in individuals with MM via bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), computed tomography (CT), and performance tests simultaneously. Materials and Methods: The prospective study was conducted from January 2022 to April 2023. The median duration of the follow-up period was 12 months. All of the participants were assessed for sarcopenia by BIA, CT, and performance tests at 1 month (±2 weeks) prior to the conditioning regimen and 6 months (±4 weeks) following the transplant. The EWGSOP 2018 guideline was used for sarcopenia diagnosis. Results: In the study, 102 patients who were ≥ 18 years and diagnosed with MM according to the criteria established by the International Myeloma Working group (IMWG) were enrolled. Pre-ASCT, 47 (46%) patients and post-ASCT, 51 patients (50%) were sarcopenic (p = 0.12). Pre-ASCT, a low skeletal muscle index (SMI) was identified in 51% of the patients, and this percentage increased to 56% after ASCT (p = 0.03). In multivariate analysis, female sex (odds ratio [OR]: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.12–1.38; and p = 0.007), higher Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation-Specific Comorbidity Index (HCT-CI) score (OR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.04–1.29; and p = 0.008), and lower body mass index (BMI) (OR per unit increase: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.88–0.99; and p = 0.045) were independently associated with sarcopenia. Conclusions: Our study revealed a high prevalence of sarcopenia among individuals with MM. We demonstrated that individuals with comorbidities, a low BMI, and female sex have a higher predisposition to sarcopenia. There was no increase in the occurrence of sarcopenia after ASCT; however, SMI decreased.