Cancer claims 8 lac lives each year in India

Panchkula: Reverberating the theme for this year World Cancer Awareness day as I am and I will, the leading oncologists from Paras Multispeciality Hospital said that with healthy living, exercise and proper diet can prevent cancer. Doctors also laid emphasis on early diagnosis of cancers to ensure best of treatment from malady.

Creating awareness on World Cancer day 2020 tete-a-tete rising trends of cancer in north India a battery of oncologists from the hospital talked to medisoesons. These included Dr. Brig Rajeshwar Singh, Director Medical Oncology, Dr Rajan Sahu, Sr. Consultant Surgical Oncology, Dr Parneet Singh Consultant Radiation Oncology , Dr Jagandeep Singh, Associate Consultant Ortho Oncology and Dr Anupam Gauba, Consultant Nuclear Medicine from Paras Hospitals Panchkula.   

Dr Rajeshwar apprised that 30 lac people in India suffer from cancer, of which 11 lacs are new cases, while cancer claims 8 lac lives each year in India. Breast and cervix cancer are the most common cancers in females, whereas lung and liver are most common cancers in males in India. A few decades back, breast cancer was seen only after 50 years of age, and the number of young women suffering from this disease were lesser. Almost 65% to 70% patients were above 50 years and only 30 to 35% women were below 50 years of age. However, presently, breast cancer is more common in the younger age group and 50% of all cases are in the 25 to 50 years age group. More than 70% of the cases present in advanced stage accounting for poor survival and high mortality.

Speaking on oral cancers, Dr Rajan Sahu shared that India continues to report highest prevalence of oral cancers globally with 75,000 to 80,000 new cases of such cancers reported every year. Chewing tobacco and gutkha contribute to 90 per cent of oral cancer cases in the country. He added that one third of cancers can be prevented with lifestyle modification.
Top five most diagnosed cancers for men are: lung, prostate, colorectal, stomach, and liver; and the top five most diagnosed cancers for women are breast, colorectal, lung, cervix, and stomach.

He shared that breast self-examination and mammography are best techniques to detect breast cancer cases at early stage and simple investigations like Chest X-ray & PSA can help in picking up lung cancer & prostate cancer in early stages.
Dr Parneet Singh , Consultant Radiation Oncology said the number of new cases of cancer is expected to rise by about 70 percent over the next two decades. “Radiation therapy involves delivering high energy X Rays to body to kill the cancer cells and disrupting their ability to grow and divide without having untoward side effects on nearby normal organs.

Giving details about the ortho onco surgery available at Paras Hospitals, Dr Jagandeep Singh said that the branch deals with all type of bone tumors and sarcomas and limb preservation surgeries can be carried out in almost 90% of cases of bine cancer. With newer modalities available for reconstruction, patients with bone Cancer can not only managed with Limb preservation, but can also expect good function of effected limb after surgery.