Can the fat around your organs delay colon cancer progression?

This study looked at the amount of fat found around the internal organs – called visceral fat – of colon cancer patients and whether the amount of fat was linked to their survival.

Obesity has become one of the most widespread health issues today. Obesity has been linked with longer hospital stays and unfavorable results after colon cancer surgery.

The level of spread of colon cancer to lymph nodes is often used as a predictor of survival. It can also help decide what treatment to use.  

It is not clear whether the amount of visceral fat can affect the speed of spread of cancer to lymph nodes.

The authors of this study examined the effect of visceral fat on the spread of cancer to the lymph nodes and on patient survival. 

This study included 186 adenocarcinoma patients. Each patient underwent measures of total body fat and visceral fat. Visceral obesity (V/T) was determined by the percentage of visceral fat compared to the percentage of total body fat. Patients were then divided into two groups based on their V/T: one group with more than 29% visceral fat and a group with less than 29%. 

The metastatic lymph node ratio (MLR) was also measured for each patient with lymph node metastasis (spread of the cancer). This is a measure of the number of lymph nodes that the cancer has spread to compared to the number of healthy lymph nodes.

A V/T of greater than 29% was associated with a 71% decrease in the risk of lymph node metastasis. The risk of a high MLR was decreased by 89% in those with a higher V/T.

Patients with a V/T greater than 29% also had a survival rate of 80 months compared to almost 70 for those with less visceral fat.

The authors of this study concluded that patients with a higher amount of visceral fat were less likely to have their cancer spread to their lymph nodes.

This study looked back at the records of the patients and may have been biased in selecting patients for the study. It also did not analyze disease free survival rates (the length of time after primary treatment for a cancer ends that the patient survives without any signs or symptoms of that cancer).