Cancer and advanced obesity treatments

The link between obesity, cancer and the advanced obesity treatments

• Morbid obesity significantly increases the chance of developing various cancers – colon, breast, endometrium, kidney, esophagus.
• Losing weight could significantly reduce the risk for many cancers.
• In the USA in 2002, it was estimated that obesity is the cause for 3.4% of the new cancers cases discovered (41,000 cases).
• The estimate of the percent of cancer deaths affiliated to obesity is 14% among men and 20% among women (2008).

What does obesity causes cancer:

• The mechanism is mostly unclear and the subject is still researched.
• An increase in sex hormone release and insulin-like growth factors that release estradiol (sex hormone, estrogen) from adipocytes.
• Morbid obesity might cause reflux which is an esophageal cancer risk factor.
• In morbid obesity situations, there are chronic inflammatory processes in the body.
• In obesity situations, resistance to insulin increases and at the same time insulin secretion is enhanced.

According to a comprehensive Swedish study on the issue, among 362,552 men (SOS in 1972-1992), there was a significant increase in risk of all cancers among fat man (colon, rectum, liver, kidney, esophagus, melanoma).

Another study conducted among women has shown a significant increase in the risk for cancer and the risk for cancer death among fat women (ovarian cancer, colorectal, melanoma, lungs and more). The risk percentage is increasing for every 10 points of BMI.

The surgical solution to prevent cancer – bariatric surgery

The SOS study has shown that bariatric surgery significantly reduces the risk for cancer.

Another study – Christou has shown that the frequency of cancer in a population that didn’t undergo bariatric surgery was 8.5% versus 2% in the population that did undergo bariatric surgery.

Adams T’s study  has shown that the general cases of death were 40% lower in the operated population versus the unoperated population and that cancer related deaths were 60% lower in the operated population versus the unoperated population.

According to the global health organization, obesity is the second largest (preventable) factor for cancer (after tobacco); the chance for cancer death is 1.5 times higher among the fat population; the amount of various cancer types affected by obesity will continue to rise as the study on the issue is completed.

Multidisciplinary center

A patient weighing the surgery as an option for him could ask for his family physician for a referral to the hospital in which these surgeries are performed for diagnosis by a surgeon and a multidisciplinary staff. It’s very important to go to a center where different types of surgeries are performed and where surgeons have experience in performing the surgeries and there is a supportive framework of a professional multidisciplinary clinic.

Here at the “multidisciplinary center for obesity diseases treatment” you could choose the surgeon you want to perform the surgery without having to wait in long lines.

A professional and skilled multidisciplinary staff, including an internist, dietician and mental health professional will accompany you in the pre-surgical process and provide you with support and aid after the surgery, maintaining the weight loss and the needed emotional support.

At the Herzliya Medical Center, only expert bariatric doctors with great experience in the field operate. The surgeon is personally in charge of the treatment from the moment the decision of surgery is made, during the surgery and the hospitalization and throughout the entire follow-up afterwards. During the hospitalization, the surgeon personally makes all treatment decisions, 24 hours a day.

For consultation and additional information, contact us at: +972-9-959-4888 or  leave your details and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.