Assessment of the correlation between visceral adiposity and liver fat in metastatic colorectal cancer patients

Purpose: The study aims to evaluate the correlation between visceral adiposity, fatty liver, and survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Methods: The study included 131 adult patients with treatment-naive mCRC. The visceral and liver fat content was measured using baseline computed tomography (CT) images. The analysis used the 50th percentile (131.80 HU) visceral adiposity value as a cutoff. The visceral and liver fat content association with patient characteristics and outcomes was assessed. Results: In the overall cohort, neither visceral adiposity (median OS 37.8 vs 36.7 months, HR = 0.83; p = 0.428) nor liver steatosis (median OS 46.0 vs 33.9 months, HR = 0.81; p = 0.370) showed significant association with OS. However, in patients with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m², liver steatosis was associated with significantly shorter survival (median OS 35.2 vs 59.5 months; adjusted HR = 0.49; p = 0.040). Visceral adiposity remained non-significant across BMI subgroups. Conclusion: We observed a possible association between liver steatosis and OS in patients with mCRC in the high BMI subgroup. Prospective studies are essential to validate these findings and the role of liver steatosis in the prognostic assessment of mCRC patients.