Respiratory sarcopenia and prehabilitation in thoracic oncology: Diagnostic approaches and clinical implications - PubMed

7 hours ago

Respiratory sarcopenia (RS) is gaining attention in thoracic oncology due to its potential link to perioperative pulmonary complications, symptom burden, and treatment tolerance.
Definitions, thresholds, and measurement protocols for RS vary across studies, with bedside tests being more feasible than imaging-based approaches in some settings.
Evidence on RS-related measures is heterogeneous, with more observational data than prospective trials available.
The review summarizes RS diagnostic approaches, associations with perioperative and longitudinal outcomes in lung cancer, and outlines prehabilitation and monitoring considerations.
Strength-first screening with simple bedside tests, followed by selective confirmatory measures, is recommended for thoracic oncology pathways.
Imaging and ultrasound measures may provide additional context when available.
Associations between RS-related metrics and outcomes in lung cancer are suggestive but not uniform, requiring context-specific interpretation and local validation.
RS-informed prehabilitation and monitoring can support risk assessment and clinical decision-making within multidisciplinary care.
Higher-quality prospective evidence is needed to further validate these approaches.

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