# Sarcopenia

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/sarcopenia/  
OnCo record `sarcopenia` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Sarcopenia is loss of muscle mass and strength. In cancer it predicts worse chemotherapy side-effects, more surgical complications and shorter survival, and it can hide in people who look a normal weight or overweight.

## Summary

Defined by low skeletal muscle mass (commonly the skeletal muscle index at the L3 vertebra on CT) with or without low strength or performance. Sarcopenic obesity, low muscle with high fat, carries the worst prognosis. Because muscle rather than total weight determines the clearance of many cytotoxics, sarcopenic patients dosed by body surface area are effectively overdosed. Automated CT segmentation makes opportunistic measurement feasible.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Also known as: Low muscle mass; Myopenia

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcopenia
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcopenia

## Connected records

- ideas: [Dose chemotherapy by muscle mass, not body surface area](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-lean-mass-dosing/), [Read muscle loss automatically from scans patients already have](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-ai-sarcopenia-from-ct/)
- technologies: [Cachexia pharmacotherapy: GDF-15 blockade, anamorelin, olanzapine](https://onco.cc/technologies/cachexia-appetite-pharmacotherapy/), [CT (computed tomography)](https://onco.cc/technologies/ct/), [CT body composition and sarcopenia measurement](https://onco.cc/technologies/ct-body-composition-sarcopenia/), [Exercise is the best-evidenced thing on this front, and most survivors are not doing it](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-access-exercise-programmes/), [Fish oil (EPA) for cancer weight loss](https://onco.cc/technologies/omega3-epa-cachexia/), [G8 geriatric screening tool](https://onco.cc/technologies/g8-geriatric-screening/), [Geriatric assessment](https://onco.cc/technologies/geriatric-assessment/), [Measuring muscle and fat on scans the patient already had](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-measure-body-composition/), [Muscle and strength after treatment: sarcopenia, cachexia and what rebuilds](https://onco.cc/technologies/muscle-recovery-after-cancer-treatment/), [Oncology nutrition assessment and medical nutrition therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/nutrition-screening-mnt/), [Referral to rehabilitation: the service most people who need it never see](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-access-rehabilitation-referral/), [Resistance training and protein for cachexia and sarcopenia](https://onco.cc/technologies/resistance-training-cachexia/), [The exercise prescription after cancer: the dose the guidelines state](https://onco.cc/technologies/exercise-prescription-after-cancer/), [Walking, gripping and standing up: the tests that take five minutes](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-measure-functional-tests/), [What the randomised trials of prehabilitation found, operation by operation](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-rehab-prehabilitation-evidence/)
- terms: [Body composition (lean mass, fat mass, visceral fat)](https://onco.cc/terms/body-composition/), [Cancer cachexia](https://onco.cc/terms/cachexia/), [Malnutrition screening tools (MUST, NRS-2002, MST, PG-SGA)](https://onco.cc/terms/malnutrition-screening/), [Pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT, pancreatin, Creon) for pancreatic exocrine insufficiency: why and how to take it](https://onco.cc/terms/pancreatic-enzyme-replacement/), [Performance status (ECOG, Karnofsky)](https://onco.cc/terms/performance-status/)
- bottlenecks: [Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-cachexia-supportive/), [Wrong doses](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-dose-optimisation/)
- cancers: [Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic/)
- trials: [ROMANA 1 and ROMANA 2](https://onco.cc/trials/romana-1-2/)
- roadmaps: [Diet, exercise and lifestyle roadmap: causes established → interventions that disappointed → exercise proven as treatment](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/nutrition-lifestyle-roadmap/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/sarcopenia.json