Why Obesity May Lead To Poorer Prostate Cancer Outcomes
Posted on August 26, 2008
Most people are aware of the negative health effects of being overweight or obese.
Now, it appears that obese patients may have poorer outcomes if diagnosed with prostate cancer for at least two distinct reasons.
It appears that obese men tend to be diagnosed with more aggressive forms of the disease as compared to non-obese men. The reason for this is that it appears that the PSA blood test is not as reliable in obese men as a predictor of prostate cancer.
In a recent study of 3400 men who had PSA testing, researchers found that the risk of an aggressive cancer diagnosed by an elevated PSA was twice as high in obese patients as compared to non-obese patients.
The reason postulated for this is that obese patients have greater blood volume which may dilute the PSA and lower results. By the time a PSA was elevated in obese patients, the cancer was more spread.
Researchers suggest therefore that the index of suspicion be higher for obese patients and that PSA levels which would be considered as worthy of further investigation be lowered in obese patients.
It should be noted that the definition of obesity is a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above.
OBESITY AND PROSTATE CANCER SURGERY
A second recent study showed that obese patients were 60% more likely to have recurrence of prostate cancer after surgery for prostate cancer removal.
In this study of 1434 men, obesity was defined as a BMI of 35 or over.
The reason postulated for the increased recurrence rate was the technical difficulty of operating on obese patients.
So, here’s two more good reasons to lose that excess poundage.
Dr. Glenn Sheiner is a medical doctor with diplomas in Emergency Medicine, Sports Medicine, and Family Medicine.
Dr. Sheiner is the author of the medical multimedia digital product called Cancer Research Online Made Easy which you can read for FREE online at CANCER RESEARCH ONLINE MADE EASY
Dr. Sheiner created this product to help patients research cutting-edge medical information in hours not days. The FREE Ebook contains 5 videos illustrating exactly what to do.
To learn more about prostate cancer go to Prostate Cancer Information
Glenn_Sheiner
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