LB112 - MISSED OPPORTUNITIES? BODY COMPOSITION AND DIETETIC REFERRAL IN WOMEN WITH OVARIAN CANCER AT FIRST PRESENTATION

LB112

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES? BODY COMPOSITION AND DIETETIC REFERRAL IN WOMEN WITH OVARIAN CANCER AT FIRST PRESENTATION

S. Benna-Doyle^1,2,3,*, B. J. Baguley ^1,2,3, N. Kiss^1,2,3, E. Laing^2,3,4

¹Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Geelong , ²School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, ³Nutrition and Speech Pathology Department, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, ⁴Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Rationale: Screening for malnutrition risk has become routine practice to triage patients for dietetic care. However, this may not be sufficient to identify patients with altered body composition requiring nutritional assessment and intervention. 

Methods: A retrospective study of 60 women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer between August 2020 and March 2024, treated at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Sociodemographic and clinical details at first hospital presentation were extracted from medical records. Records were reviewed for occurrence of screening using the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), dietetic referral, and attendance to a dietitian. Body composition phenotypes (low skeletal muscle index [SMI], low skeletal muscle density [SMD], high total adipose tissue [TATI], sarcopenic obesity [low SMI, high TATI]) were assessed from pretreatment CT images using sex- and BMI-specific cut-off points.

Results: Participant mean age was 62 (12); 85% (n=51) had an advanced stage (III/IV), and 87% (n=52) were postmenopausal. Presentation reasons included surgery (n=35, 58%), ascites (n=15, 25%) and/or emergency (n=14, 23%). Altered body composition was present in 58 (97%) patients; 62% (n=37) had low SMI, 60% (n=36) had low SMD, and 29% (n=17) had sarcopenic obesity. Among them, 82% (n=49) were screened, yet only 27% (n=13) were identified as at risk (MST score > 2). Overall, 20 (34%) were referred to a dietitian, 12 (21%) via screening, and eight (14%) by other clinicians. All referred patients attended appointments.  

Conclusion: Most patients with altered body composition who would benefit from intervention are undetected at first hospital presentation. Body composition is modifiable with early identification, referral and intervention. Further research in a larger sample and across treatment settings is underway to identify these gaps.   

Disclosure of Interest: None declared