[Histochemical analysis of respiratory muscles of patients with esophageal cancer--with special reference to the preoperative nutritional state].

Postoperative pulmonary complication and respiratory failure, frequently seen in undernourished patients such as those with esophageal cancer, were suspected to be due to respiratory muscle wasting caused by nutritional depletion. Based on this idea, the respiratory muscles obtained by biopsies during operation from diaphragm, external intercostal muscle, and rectus abdominis muscle were assessed histochemically in 32 patients. The specimens were stained for myosin ATPase to differentiate the types of muscle fibers, and then the size and distribution of the muscle fibers of each type were measured. In diaphragm muscle, cross-sectional areas of type 1 & 2 and the ratio of the area occupied by each fiber were usually the same; in external intercostal muscle, however, type 1 fibers were dominant and in rectus abdominis muscle, type 2 fibers were dominant. The cross-sectional area of each respiratory muscle fiber well correlated with certain anthropometrical indexes, and the nutritionally depleted cases, the muscle fibers were of a smaller size suggesting less respiratory muscle strength. The ratio of the area occupied by type 1 fibers in diaphragm muscle was linearly related to serum albumin, total cholesterol, and PNI (prognostic nutritional index). Type 2 fibers were dominant in malnourished patients, suggesting greater fatigue compared to well-nourished cases. Opposite findings were obtained in external intercostal muscle and rectus abdominis muscle, and the ratio of the area occupied by type 2 fibers was smaller in the undernourished cases, suggesting reduced maximum strength of these muscles.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)