CT assessment of muscle mass/tumour activity in advanced cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The use of both plain CT and PET-CT imaging to assess the loss of lean muscle mass and tumour activity in patients with advanced cancer treated with radiotherapy
IRAS ID
219041
Contact name
Ross Dolan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Cancer remains a common cause of death worldwide with weight loss and decreased physical ability being signs of disease progression. As well as these aspects, changes in levels of biochemical markers in the blood and levels of inflammation termed the modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) and neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR), are associated with decreased survival. However, we are not sure what factors affect levels of inflammation in the body and in turn how this affects survival, in patients with cancer. It may be the cancer stimulates inflammation and this causes weight loss which leads to poor survival. Alternatively, it may be that the cancer causes weight loss and that affects inflammation in the body leading to reduced survival. Patients receiving radiotherapy for advanced cancer undergo routine radiological imaging (e.g. CT Scans) that may allow us to understand how inflammation is related to survival. \n\nRoutinely, recorded weight loss of at least 5 or 10% has been used as an indicator of nutritional decline and poor prognosis. However, many patients are classified as overweight/obese at the time of diagnosis and in obese patients with cancer there is a preferential loss of muscle which is more accurate at predicting survival than weight loss per se. CT scanning has been used to assess muscle and weight loss in patients with advanced cancer. Also, PET-CT (more sophisticated CT scanning which can detect more abnormalities than standard CT) has been used to assess how “active” a cancer is and this has also been shown to have prognostic value. \n\nThe aim of the proposed study is to assess the relationship between how active a tumour is (termed tumour metabolic activity using PET-CT, and levels of inflammation (using mGPS and NLR) and the loss of muscle (using CT) and survival in patients with advanced cancer treated with radiotherapy. \n
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0190
Date of REC Opinion
25 May 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion