title: Inverse Correlation between Cancer Size and Abdominal Obesity in Colorectal Cancer Cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Correlation between colorectal cancer (CRC) and abdominal obesity has been established, but there is a paucity of data on non-obese CRC patients. The aim of this study was to establish the characteristics of CRCs that occur in such patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive CRC patients without cachexia were included. Unintended body weight loss, T4- or M1-staged CRCs, extensive lymph node involvement, or synchronous malignancy were classified as cachectic conditions. Abdominal fat volumes were measured using a multidetector CT unit with software (Rapidia, INFINITT, Seoul, Korea).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the newly-diagnosed CRC patients, 258 non-cachectic and 88 cachectic patients were analyzed. The cancer size (p<0.001) and T stage (p<0.001) were inversely correlated with body mass index (BMI), visceral fat and subcutaneous fat volumes. Cancer size was the only independent factor related to BMI (p=0.016), visceral fat volume (p=0.002), and subcutaneous fat volume (p=0.027). In non-cachectic patients, a significant inverse correlation was found only between the cancer size and visceral fat volume (p=0.017).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Non-obese CRC patients tend to have larger CRC lesions than their obese counterparts even under non-cachectic conditions. Such an inverse correlation between cancer size and visceral fat volume suggests that considerable CRCs are not correlated with abdominal obesity.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Internal Medicine, Radiology, Pathology, and Surgery, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea E-mail : sunyoung@kuh.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Taek Gun
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Ji Wan
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sun-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hee Sun
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Hye Seung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Dae Yong
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Hwang
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000473:pathology*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology