The Tripura Castle in Shillong on Sunday hosted a path-breaking interaction between leading cancer specialists, strategists, administrators and industry leaders drawn from Delhi, Mumbai and northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.
Organized by ‘BCPBF -The Cancer Foundation’, the motive of the event was to bring recent advanced developments in the field of diagnosis and treatment of lung, breast liver, peritoneum, brain and childhood cancers to the Northeast so that the hapless patients of the region have better chances of survival like their counterparts in the rest of country.
The foundation, a leading cancer think tank and patient advocate, has actively been providing help to financially constrained cancer patients in India since 2004.
Speaking on the occasion, BCPBF – The Cancer Foundation president Dr Sameer Kaul said that breast cancer remains the leading cause of mortality and morbidity among female cancer patients.
“Inherited mutations in the genes account for around 10 percent increased chances to pass on the cancerous genes though 90 percent of the cases are sporadic. The risk factor for both ovarian and breast cancer doubles in females if a female has been diagnosed with breast cancer within the age bracket of 40 years,” Dr Kaul said.
The risk for developing cancer also increases if women under the age of 60 years have triple negative breast cancer, a type of breast cancer that lacks estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), the director said.
Dr Kaul further informed that according to the recent data provided by Globacan, India, there is a 3 per cent rise in the number of new patients diagnosed with cancer and the mortality rate was registered at 30 per cent in 2018.
“Of the total prevalent cases in the last 5 years accounting for around 80000 patients, the mortality rate is attributed to around 40 percent,” he said.
Also to speak on the occasion was Mridul Arora, the general secretary of the foundation.
“It is our endeavor to bring the fruits of best global cancer research to our doctors and patients in India and at the same time transfer needs and aspirations at the grassroots to national cancer policy makers in Delhi” she said.
Among others present in the day were eminent leaders in their field like Dr Ravi Mehrotra, Dr Amal Kataki, Dr DM Thappa and Ashok Bajpai who earlier also jointly inaugurated the daylong event.
The other highlights of the event included lectures on advances in neuro-oncology, betterment of outcomes in pediatric cancers, defeating triple negative breast cancer and use of pressurized intra peritoneal aerosol chemotherapy.
Animated discussions on personalized/ precision approach to cancer treatment, targeted therapy for lung cancers etc were also carried out during the day.
The event culminated with leading medical professionals of the region committing to increase awareness about the diseases amongst the general public.