‘One
in every 22 women in India is likely to suffer from breast cancer’
Sitting
with the case files of four women – all educated, from well-to-do families and
from metros, Dr (Mrs) Ramesh Sarin, oncologist at the Apollo Hospital here,
said women troop into her chambers at late stages of breast cancer. ‘May be it
is embarrassment and they don’t want to get themselves screened or simply
denial that this can’t happen to me. Despite being aware, women come in late
stages. Mind you, these are educated women, financially well-off and
independent,’ Sarin told IANS. ‘According to ICMR (Indian Council for Medical
Research), the incidence of breast cancer is on the rise while cervical cancer
is beginning to come down,’ she added.
Sanjay
Sharma, president of the Breast Cancer Foundation of India and Surgical
Oncology at the S.L. Raheja hospital, said social taboo prevents women from
talking about breast cancer. This poses a big problem in early detection. ‘ICMR
studies show that incidence of breast cancer has nearly doubled in the last 24
years. One in every 22 women is likely to suffer from breast cancer. In India,
almost 80 percent patients are in advanced stages when they come to hospitals.
Social taboos regarding breast cancer prevent women from talking to friends and
families, let alone doctors,’ he added.
The
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has projected that India
could see around 250,000 new cases by 2015. Considering the magnitude, October
has been designated the breast cancer awareness month. Nitesh Rohtagi, a
consultant at Max Super Speciality Hospital in Delhi, said four out of 10 cases
he sees daily pertain to breast cancer. ‘The incidence is higher among Western
women. But here too the number of new cases is rising. No one factor is
responsible,’ Rohtagi told IANS.
The
most common symptom is a lump or mass that feels different from the rest of the
breast tissue. Other signs include discharge from the nipples, skin dimpling or
rash on or around nipples. Pain is a non-specific symptom although it may be
indicative of some other problem. The biggest factor for breast cancer is
lifestyle-related.
‘Women
these days marry late, have late childbirth, there is less breast feeding. All
of this increases the risk of breast cancer,’ Rohtagi said. Early puberty and
late menopause are also risk factors. ‘The incidence of breast cancer in the
metros is higher. Girls in metros are generally better nourished and more well
developed, and get their periods sooner. Early puberty, late menopauses are
risk factors in breast cancer,’ Sarin said.
Ghatkopar resident, Dinesh Shah (name changed) has a peculiar
problem. Since the past few weeks, he has been troubled by a hairy outgrowth at
the oddest of places, his tongue.
The hair growth is a repercussion of the tongue cancer surgery
that Shah underwent in February this year.
Shah was an avid gutka consumer, finishing up to fifteen packets a
day since the past eight years. A few months back, while eating spicy food, a
sore on his tongue started causing him pain. A biopsy performed on Shah’s
tongue revealed that he had tongue cancer. “Our world came crashing downwhen
the doctors informed us that they had to cut off a portion of the tongue to
prevent the cancer from spreading. We agreed to the operation,” said Sarla,
Shah’s wife. In a surgery conducted by a team of six doctors that lasted for
eight hours, the anterior portion of Shah’s tongue was removed.
Doctors say that surgery, called ‘glossectomy’, is the best
solution to halt the spread of tongue cancer. Radiation and chemotherapy often
prove ineffective to kill the tumours.
Dr Vimal Jain, the leading oncosurgeon who operated upon Shah
added that they had to cut a a portion of flesh from his right arm to
reconstruct a makeshift tongue. “The hairy outgrowth is due to the skin taken
from the patient’s arm. Eventual bouts of radiation will ensure that the hair
on his makeshift tongue is destroyed but in the process, Shah will lose all his
facial hair,” said Dr Wasim Phophlankar, oncologist at LH Hiranandani Hospital,
Powai.
Shah’s problems don’t end there. He has now been left with no
sense of taste in his mouth. “I can hardly experience any taste. The makeshift
tongue only helps in swallowing and balancing liquid food. I have been
relegated to drinking milk, fruit juices and glucose water,” he said.
Criticising the practice of eating gutka, Shah revealed that his
peers who turned him into a Gutka junkie, are till date clandestinely getting
their daily fix from their regular pan vendors. This in spite of the state wide
ban on selling of gutka and pan masala declared by the government of
Maharashtra in July this year.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research’s cancer
registry, one lakh new cases of mouth cancer are identified every year.
“Of these, more than 40,000 cases are of tongue cancer. Ninety
percent of tongue cancer cases are caused due to chewing of smoke less tobacco
including gutka. One in thirty Indians are likely to develop mouth cancers
including that of tongue is a lifetime,” said Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, head of
department, head and neck cancer at Tata Memorial Hospital in Parel.
Source: www.dnaindia.com
25.12.2012
Learning without
thought is labor lost; thought without learning is danger
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