Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Clin Oncol. Apr 24, 2026; 17(4): 116601
Published online Apr 24, 2026. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v17.i4.116601
Published online Apr 24, 2026. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v17.i4.116601
Body mass index predicts low muscle mass in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy
Ling Xiao, Yu-Di Liu, Xue Zhang, Shi-Chuan Zhang, Jia-Hua Lyu, Department of Radiation, Sichuan Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Sichuan Cancer Hospital & 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 Yu-Di Liu.
Co-corresponding authors: Shi-Chuan Zhang and Jia-Hua Lyu.
Author contributions: Xiao L was responsible for conceptualization, project administration, resources, and supervision; Xiao L and Liu YD managed data curation and visualization; they contributed equally to this article and are the co-first authors; Zhang X oversaw software; Xiao L, Liu YD, and Zhang SC were responsible for methodology; Lyu JH handled funding acquisition; Xiao L, Liu YD, Zhang X, Zhang SC, and Lyu JH contributed to investigation, validation, writing original draft, and writing review and editing; Zhang SC and Lyu JH contributed equally to this article, and they are the co-corresponding authors of this manuscript; all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Sichuan Cancer Hospital, approval No. SCCHEC2015010.
Informed consent statement: The informed consent was waived by the Institutional Review Board.
Conflict-of-interest statement: 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 original contributions presented in the study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
Corresponding author: Jia-Hua Lyu, PhD, Associate Chief Physician, Senior Researcher, Department of Radiation, Sichuan Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Sichuan Cancer Hospital & 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. winlttljh@163.com
Received: November 18, 2025
Revised: December 12, 2025
Accepted: January 21, 2026
Published online: April 24, 2026
Processing time: 157 Days and 14.5 Hours
Revised: December 12, 2025
Accepted: January 21, 2026
Published online: April 24, 2026
Processing time: 157 Days and 14.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Baseline body mass index (BMI) is a strong, independent predictor of low muscle mass (LMM) in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing chemoradiotherapy. Higher BMI is associated with a significantly lower risk of LMM and improved survival. The combination of low BMI and LMM serves as a simple and effective composite marker for identifying high-risk patients with the poorest prognosis, highlighting the need for early nutritional and functional interventions to improve clinical outcomes.