Obesity hurts recovery after colon cancer surgery

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - After undergoing surgery to remove part of the colon because of cancer, morbidly obese patients face higher complication rates than do normal-weight patients, according to a new report.

In a study of 3,200 colon cancer patients, Dr. Ryan P. Merkow from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado, and colleagues found that while the risk of post-op complications was high for overweight and obese patients, the highest risk was for morbidly obese patients -- those with a body mass index or BMI of 35 and higher.

Specifically, morbidly obese patients were significantly more likely than were normal-weight patients to develop infections of the surgical site, wounds that didn't heal properly, a blood clot to the lungs, and kidney failure, the investigators report in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

"We believe," Merkow told Reuters Health, "in this subset of patients, quality improvement initiatives should focus on these particular complications."

Overall, the odds of having any complication was 75 percent higher for morbidly obese patients and 29 percent higher for overweight patients, compared with normal-weight patients.

In contrast, the investigators say, BMI had no significant impact on the risk of dying in the 30 days after surgery.

SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Surgeons, January 2009.