Double Impact: Bariatric Surgery Fights Cancer Along With Obesity

Good news for obese people planning to go under the knife. Bariatric surgery will not only help morbidly obese people regain a normal lifestyle but also reduce chances of cancerdefine. According to a study conducted at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada, fresh evidence states that patients undergoing bariatric surgery saw reduction in the risk for breast and colondefine cancer besides experiencing tremendous weight loss.

Obesity is a serious medical condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans, exceeds healthy limits. Commonly defined as body mass indexdefine, people who are deemed morbidly obese are typically at least 100 pounds overweight.

Most authorities believe obesity to be a growing public health problem. Studies have shown excessive body weight to predispose various diseases like, diabetes, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis along with cardiovascular disease.

For individuals who have been unable to achieve significant weight loss through diet modifications and exercise programs, bariatric surgery can help attain a more healthy body weight. It basically refers to the various surgical procedures performed to treat obesity by modification of the gastrointestinal tract to reduce nutrient intake or absorption. Generally these procedures can be carried out quite safely. An estimated 205,000 people have had bariatric surgery last year in the United States alone.

The study was carried out by tracking 1,035 patients who had bariatric surgery, for a period of 5 years. Along with them, 5746 other patients were also tracked. These patients suffered from obesity and matched the surgery group in terms of age and sex. The only difference in the latter was that they had not had surgery.

The results were that those who underwent the surgery had a 80% lower risk of developing cancerdefine. The incidences of breast cancer were shown to reduce by 85% while colondefine cancer reduction was by about 70%. The study also saw reduction in the risk for pancreatic cancer, skin cancer, uterine cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Dr. Nicolas Christou of McGill University states, “The evidence is mounting that weight loss through weight-loss surgery, if you are extremely obese, is extremely beneficial both to your health as well as to your quality of life." Dr. Christou presented his preliminary results June 18 at the 25th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery.

Dr. Christou hopes that these results will help the government and public health authorities realize the importance of this procedure in the fight against the various pathologies associated with obesity.

There have been other benefits of the weight loss surgery as well. Studies conducted by Dr. Daniel Gagne of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburg revealed that patients with asthma and arthritis were able to stop taking steroids to treat the condition within a year after the surgery.

He said that often bariatric surgery is confused with cosmetic surgery. It is felt that this surgery reduces life spans. In reality, people who are overweight don’t live long because of weight related problems. This surgery helps them lose that excessive weight and better their health.

New York University researchers further strengthened this fact when their studies showed that losing less than half of excess weight in an individual through bariatric surgery, helped reduce type 2 diabetesdefine, hypertension, high cholesterol and sleep apnea dramatically.

Who would have thought that for obese people the operation theatre could bring such additional benefits.