Urinary titin N-terminal fragment concentration is an indicator of preoperative sarcopenia and nutritional status in patients with gastrointestinal tract and hepatobiliary pancreatic malignancies

摘要

Objectives: Recent reports indicate that preoperative patients with gastrointestinal malignancies often have sarcopenia. The diagnosis of sarcopenia is generally done by evaluation of walking speed, grip strength, and skeletal muscle volume of the limbs on computed tomography (CT). However, these parameters are objective indices, and new indicators for diagnosis, such as molecular biomarkers, have been anticipated. The aim of this study was to investigate whether titin, a muscular contractile protein present in sarcomeres, is an indicator of sarcopenia.