Shining a spotlight on sarcopenia and myosteatosis in liver disease and liver transplantation

Abstract

Muscle‐wasting and disease‐related malnutrition are highly prevalent in patients with chronic liver diseases (CLD) as well as in liver transplant (LT) candidates. Alterations of body composition (BC) such as sarcopenia, myosteatosis and sarcopenic obesity and associated clinical frailty were tied to inferior clinical outcomes including hospital admissions, length of stay, complications, mortality and healthcare costs in various patient cohorts and clinical scenarios. In contrast to other inherent detrimental individual characteristics often observed in these complex patients, such as comorbidities or genetic risk, alterations of the skeletal muscle and malnutrition are considered as potentially modifiable risk factors with a major clinical impact. Even so, there is only limited high‐level evidence to show how these pathologies should be addressed in the clinical setting. This review discusses the current state‐of‐the‐art on the role of BC assessment in clinical outcomes in the setting of CLD and LT focusing mainly on sarcopenia and myosteatosis. We focus on the disease‐related pathophysiology of BC alterations. Based on these, we address potential therapeutic interventions including nutritional regimens, physical activity, hormone and targeted therapies. In addition to summarizing existing knowledge, this review highlights novel trends, and future perspectives and identifies persisting challenges in addressing BC pathologies in a holistic way, aiming to improve outcomes and quality of life of patients with CLD awaiting or undergoing LT.