Obese people are reportedly "undertreated" because they are overweight, according to the Associated Press.
"By minimizing the dose, or capping the dose, we have been undertreating patients," The Food and Drug Administration's cancer drug chief, Richard Pazdur, told AP.
According to USA Today, 40 percent of obese cancer patients are receiving less than 85 percent of the "right dose for their size." The American Society of Clinical Oncology has adopted new guidelines to make sure dosing is based on a patient's weight so they are receiving the proper amount of treatment.
"Doctors often short them on chemotherapy by not basing the dose on size, as they should," AP reports. "They use ideal weight or cap the dose out of fear about how much treatment an obese patient can bear. Yet research shows that bigger people handle chemo better than smaller people do."
Though doctors are "undertreating" overweight patients, it's not necessarily because of their size. With obesity come health issues, such as diabetes, that can affect their chemo treatment. Most important of all, doctors are concerned about harming their patient's cardiovascular system.
"You're three times the size of the average person, but it doesn't mean your heart is," Jennifer Griggs, a University of Michigan breast cancer specialist who worked on the guidelines, explained to USA Today.
According to AP, "heavier patients" clear chemo drugs in their body "more quickly" than thinner patients. Tracy Smith, a 46-year-old Durham, N.C., was treated for breast cancer in 2011 and weighed 285 pounds during her treatment. She spoke to AP about her experience during chemotherapy.
"It's like a playground, an amusement park, for cancer cells when you're fat," she said.
"[My oncologist and I] didn't discuss dosage. That didn't matter to me - I just wanted to get it out of my system," she added.
