Faculty Sponsor

Jana Stedman

College

College of Nursing & Health Professions (CONHP)

Department/Program

Physician Assistant

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

Summer 7-2026

Abstract

Objective: The goal of this project was to explore the relationship between skeletal muscle mass and postoperative complications in order to evaluate how muscle-based surgical risk assessment could lead to actionable preoperative plans for adult surgical patients.

Methods: A literature review was conducted using ScienceDirect and Research Rabbit to identify studies examining skeletal muscle and surgical outcomes. Full text studies involving adult surgical patients and evaluating skeletal muscle characteristics were included, while studies involving pediatric, non-surgical populations, lacking postoperative follow-up, or published before 2020 were excluded. Five total studies consisting of meta-analyses, retrospective cohort studies, a systematic review, and a randomized control trial were included.

Results: Low skeletal muscle mass, density, and index were consistently associated with increased postoperative complications across various surgical populations. CT-based body composition analysis improved identification of high-risk patients beyond traditional risk assessment. Evidence supports routine preoperative muscle assessment and suggests that prehabilitation may reduce postoperative complications and improve recovery.

Conclusion: Skeletal muscle represents a clinically actionable biomarker that influences surgical recovery and outcomes. Integrating muscle-based risk assessment into preoperative evaluation enables earlier identification of vulnerable patients and shifts surgical care from reactive complication management to proactive complication prevention, potentially especially beneficial to female patients. Prehabilitation offers a practical strategy to translate risk identification into intervention, although prospective trials are needed to confirm its impact on clinical outcomes. Together, muscle assessment and prehabilitation support a shift toward proactive, prevention-focused perioperative care.

Keywords: skeletal muscle mass; sarcopenia; postoperative complications; prehabilitation

Biographical Information about Author(s)

Lauren discovered a special interest in surgery during clinical year, and is looking forward to working in neurosurgical spine care following graduation. Lauren was inspired to research the topic of “When Muscle Matters: Skeletal Muscle Mass and Surgical Outcomes” because of experiences she had on her surgical rotations that highlighted not just body weight or body size as predictors of surgical difficulty and outcome, but muscle mass and quality.

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