A total of 550 gastric adenocarcinoma (GA) patients undergoing gastrectomy were enrolled for the study. Computed tomography was used to assess the short axis of the psoas muscle, and the change was calculated between preoperative day and three months after gastrectomy. Perioperative glutamine supplementation (PGS) was defined as the subjects with five-day parenteral plus one-month oral use. A linear regression model was performed to predict this association by adjusting clinic-demographics and nutritional calories.
Background Sarcopenia is characterized by the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle and is associated with increased adverse surgical outcomes. Glutamine is considered as an immune-modulating formula, which may stimulate protein synthesis in the skeletal muscle but also inhibited protein-degradation. In this study, the investigators calculate the area and volume psoas major muscle (PMMA; PMMV) of the third lumbar vertebral body as the reference of skeletal muscle. The aim of this study is to investigate whether perioperative glutamine supplementation restores atrophy of psoas muscle.