Eminent Oncosurgeon Dr Shabnam Bashir on Tuesday said that the breast cancer is a major cause of cancer related deaths among women in reproductive age besides that 1/3rd cancer cases are related to behavioral and lifestyle issues.
Dr Shabnam who is Kashmir’s first female organ specific Oncosurgeon while talking exclusively to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), advocated timely diagnosis and screening of cancer for their appropriate treatment.
She said that Cancer is the new age epidemic and around 2 crore new cases are being detected across the globe and one crore deaths per year occurring due to cancers.
“It is estimated that around 13 lakh new cases are being detected in our country every year & around 8 lakh people lose their life to cancers every year in our country alone, she said adding that as per ICMR- 12 % increase in next 5 years and unfortunately these are mere underestimated numbers as we do not have properly maintained population based registries working in all parts of the country,” she said.
Seventy per cent deaths from cancer occur in low-middle income countries and what people need to realise is that 30-50% cancers are preventable, she claimed, adding, for the rest of country most common cancers in men are lung, oral cavity & colorectal ( top 3 cancers) and for women most common ones are breast, colorectal, followed by cervical but as per RCC Kashmir Oesophageal Cancer is commonest in men and women in Kashmir- 30% of all cancers, lung cancer ranks second in men and breast cancer 2nd in women in valley and brain cancer over all 3rd.
Breast cancer has become a great killer over the last decades and now it is the number one cause of cancer-related deaths among women in reproductive age group, she said, adding that about 23 lakh new cases occur each year across the globe and of these 10% (2.23 lakh cases) are reported from India, resulting in around 1 lakh deaths each single year.
On a regional level, maximum cases occur in Delhi followed by Chennai, Bangalore and Trivandrum in that order, she said.
According to the Reginal Cancer Registry Kashmir, in 2016, 4336 new cases of breast cancer were registered in the SKIMS, Soura – that comes to roughly 15 new cases every single day being reported in one hospital of Kashmir, she said.
The trends suggest a steady rise in breast cancer and 1 in every 28 Indian women is likely to develop breast cancer during her lifetime, she said adding that urban women are more prone (1 in 22) than rural people (1 in 60).
Similarly Colorectal cancer is the 3rd most diagnosed cancer in men and 2nd most common cancer in women (GLOBOCAN 2020) worldwide with around 1.5 million new cases being diagnosed every year making it account for roughly 11% of all cancer cases and it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in 10 countries.
In India – around 75000 new cases per year, Highest numbers of CRC in India in Men in Bangalore, & Women in Aizwal district of NE, she said.
In a study at SKIMS (2014-2016): CRC was most common in age group of 56-65 (25%) & around 20% less than 35 years of age & 50% of Stage-3 and 1/3rd of the cancers are related to behavioural and lifestyle issues and people need to be made aware about those lifestyle modifications required to reduce their risk of various cancers, she said.
Tobacco consumption alone is responsible for around 2500 deaths every day in our country which is alarming number and people also need to be made aware about role of alcohol, diet, stress, sleep, body weight, radiation exposure, various carcinogens, hormonal treatments, and physical activity etc, she added.
Worrisome factors for our population are that cancers are striking us a decade earlier than the western world and we have more of bad prognostic pathologies here and moreover, unfortunately a vast majority are presenting in very advanced stages reducing the survival rates, she said.
This underscores the dire need of making masses fully aware through of the causes of various cancers, its early detection by screening, seeking medical help as early as possible, and more importantly knowing preventive measures, including lifestyle changes so that cancer does not snatch precious lives from the family and society, she added—(KNO)