Sarcopenia, a disorder that involves the accelerated loss of skeletal muscle mass and function, is a prevalent complication among patients with cirrhosis and is associated with a poor prognosis.
Patients with porto-sinusoidal vascular disorder (PSVD), a condition in which patients develop portal hypertension (PH) in the absence of cirrhosis, may present with muscle wasting and impaired muscle function, leading to sarcopenia.
However, the presence of this complication has never been well assessed in a large cohort of patients with PSVD. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the prevalence and dynamics of sarcopenia and its impact on prognosis in patients with PSVD.
This is an observational, retrospective multicenter study in which all patients with PSVD with an abdominal CT scan will be included. Sarcopenia will be assessed by measuring the skeletal muscle index (SMI) using the cut-offs previously described for patients with cirrhosis. Sarcopenia dynamics will be assessed in the subgroup of patients that have an additional CT scan during follow-up.
The primary outcome will be a composite endpoint of all-cause death and development of PH-related complications. Secondary outcomes will be all-cause mortality, liver-related mortality, and the development of PH-related complications. Uni- and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses will be performed to identify parameters independently associated with the development of primary and secondary outcomes.
The cumulative probability of the primary and secondary outcomes will be calculated using Kaplan-Meier’s method and compared by the Log-rank test according to the presence or absence of sarcopenia.