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World J Gastrointest Oncol. Nov 15, 2026; 18(11): 123631
Published online Nov 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.123631
Published online Nov 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.123631
Combined low muscle mass and body mass index for prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients receiving immunochemoradiotherapy
Ling Xiao, Lin-Jie Li, Jia-Hua Lyu, Shi-Chuan Zhang, Long Liang, Department of Radiation, Sichuan Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Sichuan Cancer Hospital and Institute, Sichuan Cancer Center, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Co-first authors: Ling Xiao and Lin-Jie Li.
Co-corresponding authors: Shi-Chuan Zhang and Long Liang.
Author contributions: Xiao L handled conceptualization, project administration, resources, and supervision; Xiao L and Li LJ managed data curation and visualization, they contributed equally to this article, they are the co-first authors of this manuscript; Xiao L and Lyu JH took charge of methodology; Lyu JH oversaw software; Xiao L, Li LJ, Lyu JH, Zhang SC, and Liang L contributed to investigation, validation, writing original draft, and writing review and editing; Liang L handled funding acquisition; Zhang SC and Liang L contributed equally to this article, they are the co-corresponding authors of this manuscript; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: Gemini 3 was used only for language polishing and improving academic English readability. It was not involved in study design, data analysis, result interpretation or conclusion generation. All scientific content was independently completed by the authors based on original clinical data.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Sichuan Cancer Hospital, approval No. SCCHEC-02-2020-019.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Long Liang, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Radiation, Sichuan Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Sichuan Cancer Hospital and Institute, Sichuan Cancer Center, School of Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 55 Section 4, Renmin South Road, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China.
Received: May 25, 2026
Revised: July 20, 2026
Accepted: September 4, 2026
Published online: November 15, 2026
Processing time: 157 Days and 8.7 Hours
Revised: July 20, 2026
Accepted: September 4, 2026
Published online: November 15, 2026
Processing time: 157 Days and 8.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: In this retrospective study of 105 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma receiving immunochemoradiotherapy, we found that the prognostic value of low muscle mass is highly dependent on body mass index (BMI). Low muscle mass served as a strong independent adverse prognostic factor only in patients with BMI ≥ 22.0 kg/m2, but showed no predictive efficacy in individuals with lower BMI, demonstrating marked BMI-dependent heterogeneity. This finding provides a novel basis for personalized risk stratification and clinical management of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients.