Cheng BT, et al. - Researchers examined the predictive value of sarcopenia for 1-year survival in patients undergoing endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). In this single-institution retrospective review, they evaluated a total of 272 EVAR-treated patients (237 men and 35 women) with a median age of 72 years and mean body mass index of 28.6 kg/m². They measured normalized total psoas cross-sectional area (nTPA) on axial computed tomography (CT) images using the area of the bilateral psoas muscle at the third lumbar vertebral level normalized to the square of patient height and determined a threshold for optimal estimate of sarcopenia based on nTPA using a receiver operating characteristic curve. Patients in the lowest quartile of nTPA showed a significant increase in overall mortality. For increased mortality after EVAR, the estimated nTPA threshold was 500 mm²/m². Sarcopenia accounted for 57% of the risk effect in the 1-year survival model using this threshold. Findings thus suggest the possible utility of sarcopenia in identifying EVAR candidates who are less likely to benefit from surgery. In the evaluation of abdominal aortic aneurysm patients, sarcopenia may be a useful tool with applications in risk evaluation and telemedicine.