Removing your appendix may reduce your risk of colorectal cancer
MURcia. The appendix, once considered an unnecessary human organ, has recently been shown to play a role in the immune system. However, it is not known for certain how its removal to treat appendicitis will affect a person’s health in the long term.
New study from researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, one of the founders of the Mass General Brigham health system (USA), found that appendectomy – a surgical procedure to remove the appendix – is associated with a lower risk of developing a certain type of colorectal cancer characterized by the presence of a bacterium, likely a tumor promoter, called Fusobacterium nucleatum. The results were published in the Annals of Surgery.
“Appendicitis is a painful and often emergency condition that predominantly affects adolescents and young adults, and appendectomy is the treatment of choice. However, the long-term impact of this procedure on the gut microbiome, and in turn on the risk of developing colorectal cancer, is unclear.” says lead author Shuji Ogino, a physician and researcher in the Department of Pathology at BWH. “We found that people who had an appendectomy had a significantly lower risk of contracting this subtype of colorectal cancer.”
In future studies, Ogino’s lab intends to examine the effects of appendectomy. for colorectal neoplasms containing other potentially pathogenic bacteria. They also hope to study the role of the appendix in the contribution of bacteria to the gut microbiome and how its absence affects various aspects of human health.
The researchers collected data from two large prospective cohort studies: the Nurses’ Health Study, which included 121,700 women aged 30 to 55 years at enrollment, and the Health Workers’ Follow-up Study, which enrolled 51,529 men, aged 40 to 75 years at enrollment.
Participants provided information about their lifestyle and health every two years.. The team analyzed data from 91,975 women and 47,431 men who reported having or not a history of appendectomy, after excluding those with a history of cancer, inflammatory bowel disease or implausible calorie intake. The team followed 139,406 participants from both cohorts to date or until death.
Of the 2811 colorectal cancer cases, 1065 had tissue available. for the analysis of Fusobacterium nucleatum bacteria. The research team’s results showed that those who had an appendectomy had a 47 percent lower risk of developing colorectal cancer caused by Fusobacterium nucleatum than those who did not undergo the procedure.
The procedure did not increase the risk of colorectal cancer. overall or by cancer subtype. Limitations include that participants were predominantly White and non-Hispanic.
The researchers only had information about appendectomies. this was carried out at the time the specific questionnaire was compiled. They were unable to account for the effect of appendectomies performed after this time; However, appendectomies are most often performed between 15 and 30 years of age, and the average age of participants at the time of completing the special questionnaire was 58 years for women and 53 years for men.
Cases of colorectal cancer that have occurred until you fill out a specific form; However, the researchers note that this number was relatively small. Finally, bacteriological data were not available for all colorectal cancer cases.
“In our study, we examined the association between appendectomy and colorectal cancer positive for a specific strain of bacteria. However, many types of bacteria contribute to tumor development, and the full spectrum of bacteria contained in the appendix remains unclear. Therefore, we cannot definitively establish whether removal of an organ considered a potential harbor for certain bacteria always has a positive or negative effect on the risk of colorectal cancer, and we cannot recommend its removal as a preventative measure,” says Ogino.
“We understand that the appendix plays a role in immune function, and our research aims to shed more light on the role of the appendix in the body and how its removal affects our overall long-term health,” he said.