Dr. Len's Cancer Blog

As I write this, it is about 5:30AM and I am sitting in the airport in Cincinnati waiting to continue my travels to Chicago.  I am the victim of what the airlines call an “irregular operation,” which for me means the plane bound for Chicago was pulling away from the gate when I arrived from the first leg of my trip from Harrisburg.

I have been on a bit of a road trip, giving talks in several different cities over several different days.  

As a result of this tumult, I haven’t had time to do any formal research or reading in preparation for a blog this week, but I have seen the headlines about the continued reduction in deaths from breast cancer. 

And that has made me think that, although breast cancer awareness month may be coming up in October, in fact this has been a breast cancer awareness year.  Although much of the news has been good, there has been some that is not so good as well.

Today is a momentous day for the American Cancer Society as it launches its nationwide initiative to call attention to the need for quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

It is the type of day that could go down in the history books of the Society as marking a watershed moment for the organization, for non-profit voluntary organizations, and possibly for the country.

Today is the day the Society is making a commitment to bring the issue of health care access to the top of its agenda, making a substantial commitment of resources—both financial and otherwise—to put a spotlight on access to health care, especially as it relates to cancer detection and cancer treatment.

There are so many practical factors that one has to consider when looking at what can influence outcomes for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

For example, this past June my colleagues at the American Cancer Society reported the significant impact health insurance can have on the stage of breast and head and neck cancers at the time of diagnosis.  The findings were clear: if you have insurance, you have a better chance of finding the cancer earlier when treatments can be more effective and the chances for survival are better.

Whether you have insurance, where you live, the volume of patients treated with a specific type of cancer at a particular hospital and/or by a particular doctor are just a few of the elements that can make a difference on what you can expect with respect to finding cancer early and treating it effectively.

Now, add another factor—education—to the list of things that can predict whether you will die from cancer.

To operate or not to operate, that is the question.

No, I am not talking about treating or curing a cancer.  I am talking about preventing it.

As much as I may not have been prepared to accept the findings, the reality is that two articles and an editorial in a recent New England Journal of Medicine strongly suggest that bariatric surgery may not only be an effective way to treat obesity, it may also significantly decrease the risk of cancer.