Chandigarh: “30 lakh people in India suffer from cancer, of which 11 lakh are new cases. Cancer claims 5 lakh lives every year in India. Breast & cervical cancer are the most common cancers in females, whereas lung & liver are most common cancers in males in India,”
Addressing a press conference here Thursday, Dr. Jatin Sarin director medical oncology at Ivy Hospital Mohali said that few decades back, breast cancer was seen only after fifty years of age and the number of young women suffering from this disease were lesser with almost 65-70 % patients were above 50 years and only 30 to 35% women were below fifty 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, Dt Jatin maintained.
Dr Vijay Bansal, senior surgical oncologist shared that India continues to report the 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 percent of oral cancer cases in the country.
Dr Minakshi Mittal, senior radiation oncologist, said that the number of new cases of cancer is expected to rise by about 70 percent over the next two decades.
Dr Priyanshu Chaudhary, medical oncologist stated: “One third of the cancers prevented by lifestyle modification. Breast self-examination and mammography is a noble technique to deduct breast cancer cases at an early stage and simple investigations like chest X-ray & PSA can help in picking up lung cancer & prostate cancer in early stages.”
