TREATMENT ON WHEELS: Chief Controller of Defence Research and Development Organisation A. Sivathanu Pillai launching the mobile preventive gastroenterology clinic at Gem Hospital in Coimbatore on Friday. — Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

COIMBATORE: Research on cancer will help remove the mystery around the disease. With a lot of work on in the areas of medical, surgical and radiation oncology, the day is not far when most of the questions concerning the disease will be answered, said A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Research and Development, here on Friday.

Commissioning the city-based Gem Hospital's mobile preventive gastroenterology clinic for rural areas, Dr. Pillai said cancer management had become one of the most important medical challenges. It was a major disease after cardiovascular problems in the economically developed countries.

Globally, 10 million new cases were reported every year with nearly 6.5 million cancer-related deaths. The occurrence in India was eight-lakh cases a year. The country had the largest number of oral cancer cases owing to widespread chewing of tobacco. Colorectal cancer was the most common among the malignant cases in the digestive system.

Considerable progress had been made in understanding the mechanisms of carcinogenesis in the last few years. This had led to the development of specific and effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

PET facility

A more recent development was the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) for non-invasive and accurate detection and evaluation of most cancers. The DRDO recently established PET at its Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) in New Delhi. It was expected to begin functioning in June this year after operational clearance.

On various latest technologies, Dr. Pillai said these were the spin-offs of defence research and development efforts.

A new treatment modality was developed at the INMAS based on the concepts of metabolic engineering. It used a simple glucose analog (2-DG - a glucose like molecule) as an adjuvant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

The DRDO had also developed a cytoscan that helped in detecting cancer earlier, thanks to the initiative by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

On mobile specialised clinics, Dr. Pillai said people in remote areas hesitated to travel long distances to visit hospitals as they lost a day's earnings. This impeded the detection of serious ailments. Mobile clinics provided a solution to this problem.

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