COURTESY HT APRIL 15

Obesity increases kidney cancer risk’
KGMU MEET Excess weight leads to metabolic and genetic changes in the body which adversely affect the kidneys, say experts
If kidney cancer is detected in the early stages, we need not remove the entire organ but only the part affected PROF HS PAHWA, senior faculty, dept of general surgery, KGMU,

LUCKNOW: Maintaining a healthy body weight was important for health, particularly kidneys, said experts on Sunday, the second day of URO-ONCOCON, an international conference at KGMU.

They said obesity not only disfigured one and led to blood pressure and diabetes but also increased the risk for diseases like kidney cancer

“Obesity leads to metabolic and genetic changes in the body and kidney is one organ that gets adversely affected with this,” said Prof SN Sankhwar, HoD, urology at the KGMU and organising chairperson of the conference.

There are four stages of kidney cancer in which the first is inside the organ and the second on its surface. The third stage is when the cancer spreads to other organs in the surrounding areas and in the fourth stage it spreads to organs like the lungs or bones. This is because filtering of toxins from the body, a primary function of kidneys, gets hampered.

Prof HS Pahwa, the organising secretary of the conference and senior faculty in the department of general surgery at the KGMU, said that the symptoms such as blood in urine and pain in abdomen appeared after some delay, hence it was important to pay attention to kidney health.

In all, 10 guest lectures were held on various topics. Dr Divakar Dalela discussed different types of kidney tumours while Dr Aneesh Srivastava spoke on the molecular biology of these cancers. Apart from this, 7 uncommon case presentations and four interesting clinical videos were presented by Dr MS Ansari, Dr Saurabh Gupta, Dr Surabh Vashishth and Dr HS Pahwa.

Prof Pahwa said that risk factors for common people included smoking and poor diet. “If kidney cancer is detected in the early stages, we need not remove the entire organ but only the part affected,” he said.