World Cancer Day

By Dr Mansi Khanderia, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Mazumdar Shaw Medical Center, Narayana Health City, Bangalore

“The theme for this year’s World Cancer Day is “I am I will” which essentially means we as individuals should not only work towards creating awareness about the condition, but also should make personal commitment towards reducing the global burden of cancer.

With about 841,000 new cases and 782,000 deaths annually Liver Cancer (HCC) is predicted to be the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide in 2018. In Bengaluru alone around 3000-4000 new cases are registered per year making it a major health concern. The commonly seen causes for Liver Cancer are chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV), hereditary hemochromatosis and cirrhosis. The other causes include, heavy alcohol intake, obesity, smoking, and type 2 diabetes. In fact, 70%–80% of all Liver Cancers are due to hepatitis B virus, 15% are related to hepatitis C virus (HCV), and 5% to both HBV and HCV. Further, alcohol accounts for approximately 8% of all Liver Cancers. Some of the symptoms that patients can show are loss of appetite, unintentional loss of weight, upper abdominal pain, nausea with vomiting, weakness and fatigue, jaundice (discoloration of the skin and the whites of your eyes to yellow) and sometimes vague symptoms like unexplained fever, low sugar or diarrhoea.  If diagnosed at early stages, liver cancer can be cured surgically. Other options include transarterial radio or chemo ablation. In advanced stages, targeted tablets, immunotherapy and sometimes radiotherapy can also be given.

However, the need of the hour is prevention. Adopting healthy choices or lifestyle like getting oneself vaccinated for hepatitis B, avoiding regular or excessive intake of alcohol, maintaining healthy lifestyle as well as weight, being aware of symptoms and high risk can not only safeguard oneself but also can go a long way in reducing the global burden of the condition”.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)