Appraisal of a newly developed ALBI-sarcopenia score as a prognostic marker in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
Maha Elsabaawy, Hanaa Badran, Amr Ragab, Rasha Abdelwahab, Eman Sayed, Sameh Afify, Warda Othman- Gastroenterology
- Hepatology
Objective
This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the combined Albumin–bilirubin (ALBI)/sarcopenia score as a newly developed prognostic model for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with a focus on its utility in predicting mortality.
Methods
This prospective study was conducted on HCC patients who were followed for 1 year or until death. Sarcopenia was assessed radiologically by computed tomography at the level of L3. The study consisted of two sets: a development set in which the new ALBI-sarcopenia score was created, comprising 262 HCC patients, followed by an internal validation set with 100 patients.
Results
The development cohort primarily included males (69.5%), aged 59.6 ± 8.09 years. In patients with sarcopenia, the ALBI score was −2.03 ± 0.42 (
Conclusion
The newly introduced ALBI-sarcopenia score has demonstrated superior effectiveness in comparison to MELD-sarcopenia score, overcoming the shortcomings associated MELD score in forecasting outcomes for patients with HCC.