Obesity surgery allows you to lose weight in a sustainable way, when you adopt a healthy lifestyle, but also to reduce the conditions linked to this chronic disease. For proof: this operation could prevent breast cancer.
- Bariatric surgery may be indicated in case of body mass index greater than 40 kg/m2 or 35 kg/m2 when there is an associated disease likely to be improved by surgical treatment.
- This operation can only be considered in people whose obesity has been established for several years. These patients have already been followed for at least a year for their weight problems, and for which dietary treatment and physical activity are ineffective.
Hypertension, stroke, diabetes, osteoarthritis of the knee… These numerous pathologies can be caused by obesity. Excess body fat can also increase the risk of developing cancer. In women, this chronic condition promotes the occurrence of endometrial tumours, ovarian and breast cancer after menopause. To lose weight and reduce these diseases associated with obesity, some obese women are recommended to have bariatric surgery. This intervention changes the anatomy of the digestive system. It is more precisely a mechanical and metabolic aid which makes it possible to reduce the quantity of food consumed and the assimilation of food by the body.
“The use of bariatric surgery as an adjunct therapy in endometrial cancer also raises the possibility of similar use in some breast cancer patients,” said scientists from Oregon Health & Science University (USA). In order to find out if this operation is effective in the fight against breast cancer, the researchers carried out a study published in the journal obesity February 23. For the purposes of the work, the team compared the data of 55,781 patients who underwent obesity surgery and those of participants who did not have recourse to this intervention.
Reduced risk of breast cancer thanks to bariatric surgery
According to the study, the risk of developing breast cancer was reduced by 15% in women who had bariatric surgery. In the searches, the authors cited the results of another meta-analysis, including 1,106,939 patients. “The other researchers also found a reduced risk of breast cancer after this operation. Interestingly, patients who underwent bariatric surgery had a higher risk of stage I disease, suggesting a trend towards at an earlier stage in the group where the surgery was performed”can we read in the works.
Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University were unable to determine the mechanisms involved in reducing the risk of breast cancer after this surgery. They said more research is needed to better elucidate the role of bariatric surgery in preventing breast cancer.
.
