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Accurate estimation of skeletal muscle mass by comparison of computed tomographic images of the third lumbar and third cervical vertebrae in Japanese patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma

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Abstract

Objectives

We evaluated the accuracy of estimating the cross-sectional area (CSA) at the third lumbar vertebra (L3) based on the CSA at the third cervical vertebra (C3) using computed tomographic images, and we identified the sources of error and bias using the evaluation of absolute reliability in 89 Japanese patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Methods

Skeletal muscle CSA was measured at the C3 and L3 on pretreatment computed tomographic images. We used the CSA at the C3 to estimate CSA at the L3 in an existing prediction formula. Correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the relative reliability of the estimate, and Bland–Altman analysis and minimum detectable change (MDC) were used to evaluate its absolute reliability.

Results

Estimated and actual CSAs at L3 were strongly correlated (r = 0.885, p < 0.001). The mean difference between the estimated and actual CSAs was − 1.0887 cm2, the 95% confidence interval was − 4.09 to 1.91 cm2 (p = 0.472), and the 95% limits of agreement were − 29.0 and 26.8 cm2. The MDC at the 95% level of confidence in estimated and actual CSAs was 27.9 cm2.

Conclusions

The estimation of CSA at the L3 from the existing prediction formula with the CSA at the C3 had no systematic biases, but it did have random errors. Random errors resulted from measurement errors and biological variation. Usefulness of the existing formula is limited by physical differences in populations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Voronoi Health Analytics Incorporated for the DAFS platform and technical support and Enago (http://www.enago.jp) for English language editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oral Surgery, School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, South 1 West 16, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8543, Japan

    Nobuhide Ohashi, Kazushige Koike, Kurumi Sakai, Koyo Nishiyama, Takanori Sasaki, Kazuhiro Ogi, Hironari Dehari & Akihiro Miyazaki

  2. Department of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, South 1 West 17, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8556, Japan

    Nobuhide Ohashi, Kurumi Sakai & Nobumichi Kobayashi

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  1. Nobuhide Ohashi
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Contributions

NO, KK, KS, KN, TS, KO, HD, NK, and AM contributed to the concept and design. NO, KK, KS, and KN contributed to the acquisition data and data analysis. NO and KK contributed to the data interpretation and drafting of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nobuhide Ohashi.

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Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This retrospective study was conducted according to the principles of the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008, and approved by Sapporo Medical University’s Institutional Review Board (approval number 332-53).

Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study. Informed consent for the use of data was obtained from patients through an opt-out document, and explanatory documents were posted on the information boards and website of our institution.

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Ohashi, N., Koike, K., Sakai, K. et al. Accurate estimation of skeletal muscle mass by comparison of computed tomographic images of the third lumbar and third cervical vertebrae in Japanese patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. Oral Radiol 39, 408–417 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-022-00653-8

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