The delay in diagnosis changes the prognosis, treatment approach, and the cost associated with it, dramatically
By Jame Abraham, M.D, FACP, Cleveland Clinic
Arathi is a 47-year-old, highly successful systems engineer from Mumbai. About six months ago, she noticed some discomfort in her left breast. When she raised her arm above her head to comb her hair, she noticed some skin changes on the left breast. But she chose to ignore that, too. When she developed a constant nagging pain in her…
Cancer
Says Dr V Shanta, cancer specialist and the Chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai. Lung cancer, which is related to smoking, is today the top cancer in the country. Within the year, 15.5% of 13 to 15-year-olds are going to start smoking. Don’t let your child be one of them. Plus, how smoking harms non-smokers, too. 1. How grave is the health problem posed by tobacco use in India? How much of it relates to smoking cigarettes, beedis and how much is it due to consumption of gutka,…
World No Tobacco Day is on May 31. Cancer survivor Vandana Gupta (VG), the founder of V Care, a support service for cancer patients and their families in India, talks about the urgent need to protect your kids and family members from the widespread scourge of tobacco use. Plus, what to say to kids who think smoking is cool. PE: Your organisation, V Care, offers support to different types of cancer patients. What are the specific challenges pertaining to …
The risk was especially high among men who started using supplements before age 25, those who used multiple supplements, and those who used them for years. A new study links taking muscle-building supplements, such as pills and powders with creatine or androstenedione, with an increased risk of testicular cancer. Moreover, says study senior author Tongzhang Zheng, the associated testicular germ cell cancer risk was especially high among men who started using supplements before age 25,…
He was diagnosed with colon cancer in his first year of junior college, which kept him away from school for four months. But that did not stop Hwa Chong Institution student Ng Yi Pin from catching up with his studies. He also managed to find the time and energy to tutor his older twin brother, Yi Yang, who studied in the same school. Yesterday, the 18-year-old scored eight As for his A levels. Yi Yang also made a marked improvement from his usual results. Yi Pin was in Secondary 4 when he…
Instead of poisoning a tumuor or destroying it with radiation, Dr. James P. Allison, chairman of the Immunology Department at the University of Texas, M.D Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston has pioneered ways to unleash the immune system to destroy a cancer He proposed to develop drugs that unleashed the T-Cells. T-Cells of the immune system which are attack cells, latch onto the cells infected with viruses and bacteria and ultimately kill them. The first drug developed was Yervoy against…
Chemotherapy and radiation failed to work on Erika Hurwitz's rare cancer of white blood cells. So her doctors offered her another option - a drug for melanoma. Within 4 weeks, her cancer was undetectable. Mrs. Hurwitz is part of a new national effort in the United States to try and beat cancer basednot on what organ it startedin, but on what mutations drive its growth. There are now an increasing number of drugs that block mutations in cancer genes and can halt a tumour's growth. The…
On the occasion of World Cancer Day, Dr V Shanta, Chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai, a doyenne in her field, talks to PatientsEngage about the challenges of tackling cancer in India. “India has state of the art facilities but it does not reach everyone.” PE: There are many differing views on how frequently one should have mammograms. You have said that annual mammograms are unnecessary. Dr. Shanta: I believe that we do follow the general guidelines laid…
Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby – son of a BBC legend – tells Charlie Cooper how his father’s candour informed the family’s attitude to coping with illness Britain in 1965 was not a country that talked about cancer. So when one of the most recognisable men in Britain, the veteran broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, decided in October 1965 to go public with the fact that he was suffering from it, the announcement stunned the country. “The newspapers, when he said: ‘I have got cancer’, responded…
