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Quantity and quality of muscle in patients recently diagnosed with colorectal cancer: a comparison with cancer-free controls

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Abstract

This cross-sectional study compares the muscle mass, core strength and physical fragility of patients recently diagnosed with colorectal cancer (pRD-CRC) with those of healthy subjects and identifies variables to be considered when designing pre-treatment physical interventions for such patients. Body composition, anthropometric variables, the muscle architecture of the lumbopelvic region, physical fitness and frailty were assessed in 32 pRD-CRC and 29 healthy control subjects. The patients showed a reduction in muscle mass (F = 10.059; P = 0.003), in the width of the lumbar multifidus (F = 21.869; P < 0.001), in the transverse abdominal muscle (U = 323.00; P = 0.042) and in the abdominal strength resistance (F = 12.264; P = 0.001). They were also frailer (P = 0.002) than the controls. These results suggest that pRD-CRC are affected by reduced strength and myopenia, leading to frailty. The early incorporation of these patients into strength-enhancing programs may be advisable.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT, Mexico) and the Consejo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de Hidalgo (CITNOVA, Mexico) for PhD (scholarship number 605139). This work forms part of a PhD thesis undertaken within the Official Doctoral Programme in Clinical Medicine and Public Health of the University of Granada, Spain. We are grateful to Ms. Ana Yara Postigo Fuentes for her assistance with the English language.

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport via the University of Granada CEI-BioTic Campus and the University of Granada, UGR Research and Knowledge Transfer Fund (PPIT)2016, Excellence Actions Programme, Units of Scientific Excellence, Scientific Unit of Excellence on Excercise and Health (UCEES) with Irene Cantarero Villanueva as the principal investigator.

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Correspondence to Irene Cantarero-Villanueva.

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All participants provided their informed consent to participate. The study was approved by the Andalusian Ethics Committee on Biomedical Research (Granada, Spain) (Peiba1087-N-16) and was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (14/2007).

Conflict of interest

This manuscript has not been published or presented elsewhere in part or in entirety and is not under consideration by another journal. The Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT, Mexico) and the Consejo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de Hidalgo (CITNOVA, Mexico) granted a scholarship to Mayra Cruz Fernández (scholarship number 605139). There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Cruz-Fernández, M., Achalandabaso-Ochoa, A., Gallart-Aragón, T. et al. Quantity and quality of muscle in patients recently diagnosed with colorectal cancer: a comparison with cancer-free controls. Support Care Cancer 28, 4745–4752 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05314-2

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