The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Two lakh head and neck cancer cases diagnosed every year in India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 24, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Two lakh head and neck cancer cases diagnosed every year in India

Special Correspondent

Most cases related to chewing of tobacco: expert

CHENNAI: About two lakh head and neck cancer cases are diagnosed in the country every year. Globally, nearly 4.5 million people are affected.

This was stated by Rammohan Tiwari of the Head and Neck Surgical Oncology Department, Bangalore Institute of Oncology, here on Friday while delivering the second Prof. K.K. Ramalingam oration on "Rationalisation of the management of head and neck cancer," under the auspices of the Upgraded Institute of Otorhinolaryngology (UIORL), Madras Medical College (MMC).

The success rate of treatment depended on at what stage the cancer is diagnosed and on the site it is located.

For instance, cancer of the tongue was a very aggressive disease and five-year survival even at an early stage of detection is 30 to 40 per cent, while in cases of cancer of the larynx, the survival rate was close to 80 per cent, if detected early.

Most head and neck cancer was tobacco-related.

One condition peculiar to India was the Sub Mucous Fibrosis, a result of chewing products such as masalas containing tobacco and other ingredients such as betel nuts and suparis for a long time. Even youngsters were affected because of addiction.

Role of diet

Prof. Tiwari said diet played an important role in the causation of cancer. For instance, there was a high incidence of cancer of the throat and food pipe in Andhra Pradesh and Assam because of diet.

Speaking on treatment for head and neck cancer, he said a patient should be seen jointly by the surgeon, radiotherapist and chemotherapist and then decide on the correct approach for the best chances of survival.

Prof. Tiwari explained that advances in surgical techniques of excision (removal) and reconstruction had made it possible to rehabilitate the patient to a near normal level.

Pioneering service

Appreciating the MMC for organising the lecture, P.Vijayalakshmi, Director of Medical Education, said the institution not only did a pioneering service for the common man, but also had an excellent continuing medical education programmes.

S. Amma Muthu, Director and Professor, UIORL, said the institute needed certain basic instruments for programmes like cochlear implantation to meet the increasing demand of patients.

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