Impact of body mass index and visceral adiposity on outcomes in colorectal cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Obesity and visceral obesity are closely related to the development of colorectal cancer, as well as other metabolic complications. We investigated the prognostic significance of body mass index (BMI) and visceral obesity in 273 patients with resectable colorectal cancer.


METHODS
Visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area were measured on digital images of patients' computed tomograms obtained before surgery. The patients were divided into two groups according to the cut-off levels of VFA proposed by Oka et al. Men with a VFA of ≥130 cm(2) and women with a VFA of ≥90 cm(2) were classified as obese (VFA-obese) and the others were classified as non-obese (VFA-non-obese). The patients were also divided into an overweight group and a normal range group, according to their preoperative BMI.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference in cumulative recurrence-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS) between the VFA-obese group and the VFA-non-obese group. In the subgroup of patients with Dukes' C disease (n = 100) there was no statistically significant difference in RFS and OS between the VFA-obese group and the VFA-non-obese group. The results were similar when the patients were classified according to their BMI.


CONCLUSIONS
Neither obesity nor increased visceral adiposity has any influence on outcomes in patients with resectable colorectal cancer.
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Kanagawa Cancer Center, Kanagawa-ken 241-0815, Japan. yamamoton@kcch.jp
Naoto
N
Yamamoto
Shoichi
S
Fujii
Tsutomu
T
Sato
Takashi
T
Oshima
Yasushi
Y
Rino
Chikara
C
Kunisaki
Munetaka
M
Masuda
Toshio
T
Imada
D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors