Maarten van Egmond

68 Chapter 4 If there is an association between muscle mass and muscle strength in preoperative patients with esophageal cancer prior to neoadjuvant chemoradiation, physiotherapists may be able to determine which patients are at risk for decreased muscle function and its functional consequences by measuring muscle strength. These patients may benefit from preoperative exercise training and nutritional support to increase muscle strength as well as functional status contributing to better postoperative outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association between muscle mass and muscle strength in patients with esophageal cancer awaiting potentially curative esophagectomy, before neoadjuvant chemoradiation.