Hand grip strength and adductor pollicis muscle thickness in patients on palliative care for hepatocellular carcinoma

Summary: Background & aims: Malnutrition is a common condition of difficult diagnosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional status of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in palliative care through handgrip strength and adductor pollicis muscle thickness. Methods: Data on the severity of liver disease, and oncological and nutritional assessment data, including body mass index (BMI), hand grip strength (HGS), and adductor pollicis muscle thickness (APMT), were collected from the electronic medical records of patients in nutritional outpatient follow-up. Analyzes were performed with all patients in a single group or according to Child-Turcotte-Pugh classification. Associations were analyzed by the Pearson correlation coefficient, with a p value > 0.05 indicating significance. Results: Mean values of BMI and APMT increased while HGS decreased as disease severity increased according to the CHILD scale. According to the Performance Status evaluation by ECOG, the higher the severity of the disease assessed by the CHILD scale the worse the HGS and ECOG values. A correlation between HGS and CHILD B and C was found. Conclusions: Higher BMI values and lower HGS values may be associated with a greater disease severity. HGS may be an interesting resource as a predictor of lean body mass in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Further studies are needed to evaluate the use of APMT in this group of patients. Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma, Nutritional status, Cirrhosis, Hand grip strength, Adductor pollicis muscle thicknes