Dr. Sai Yendamuri addresses major symposium at annual meeting of American Association for Cancer Research
BUFFALO, N.Y. —Obesity is associated with a higher risk of developing at least 13 types of cancer — and worse outcomes after diagnosis. But lung cancer seems to be an exception: Studies have shown that patients with a high body mass index (BMI) experience a lower risk of disease recurrence and longer survival after surgical treatment — an irregularity called “the obesity paradox.” In light of obesity’s detrimental effects in other cancers, what accounts for those unexpected outcomes?
Research conducted at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has identified two main “confounding factors” that help explain why previous studies reached the inaccurate conclusion that overweight and obesity are potentially beneficial for lung cancer patients. Sai Yendamuri, MD, MBA, FACS, Chair of Thoracic Surgery at Roswell Park, will discuss his team’s findings during a major symposium at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in San Diego, California, April 5-10, 2024.
Dr. Yendamuri led a research team that included Santosh Patnaik, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Oncology, Department of Thoracic Surgery, and Joseph Barbi, PhD, Assistant Professor of Oncology, Department of Immunology.
He points to the use of BMI for measuring obesity as one of two factors that skewed the conclusions of previous studies. “Obesity is second only to smoking as a cause of cancer,” he says. “So it matters how you measure it.”
While BMI is widely used to define obesity, Dr. Yendamuri and his colleagues have demonstrated that it is deeply flawed. BMI uses a mathematical equation involving height and weight, but it provides only a rough estimate of the percentage of fat in the body. Furthermore, it does not pinpoint where the fat is located or what types of fat are present. Using CT images in a case-control study,…
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