Weight-Loss Surgery vs Woman’s Cancer
guardian.co.uk, 24th June 2009
The latest reports carried in Sweden show that the surgery that makes the stomach smaller, reduces the risk of cancer for overweight women. Unfortunately, it is still not clear if men would benefit from the same procedure.
As batriatic surgery usually consists of reducing the size of the stomach, people can only eat small amount of food at a time and less food is absorbed by the body. Weight-loss surgery brings good results to overweight and obese patients. In comparison with those who lost weight by diet and exercise alone, they tend to lose weight relatively quickly and keep their weight.
Weight-loss surgery has unfortunately some risks. Patients who consider the procedure should be informed about all possible risks and decide if the benefits will outweigh them.
Researches aim to establish the long term benefits to these patients. The results are compared to the situation where they had not have the surgery in order to see which would be more beneficial.
The researches in Sweden studied over 4,000 patients. Half of them had a weight-loss surgery whereas the other part tried to lose weight by exercising and diet only. The results of all patients were analysed for the next 10 years.
The results were very interesting: about 5.8% of the patients who had the surgery got a cancer some time later. Compared to the 8.2% of patients who didn’t have the weight-loss operation, it’s about three times lower.
Weight-loss surgery seems to influence women’s cancer only as men didn’t have the reduced risk of cancer after the procedure.
Another advantage is that batriatic surgery patients lost 20 kg in average whereas the other group gained 1 kg.
The study is quite frustrating for male patients but it can’t be said it is 100% reliable as most of the patients were women (71%). It’s possible that there were too few men in the research and in order to be more accurate, they should be more numerous. The other thing is that researchers still don’t know if they were the types of cancer affected most by obesity and more common in women than men.
The results of the study show that weight-loss surgery is an advisable option for overweight and obese patients and can reduce the risk of the cancer. It also shows it’s got some risks and has to be seen as a life-changing experience. Losing weight should always start with changing diet and exercise. If it’s not enough, it is advisable to consult the surgeon or nurse to discuss the options.
