A Lung Cancer Clinic was inaugurated by P. Mythili, Superintendent, KGH, at the HCG Cancer Centre at Health City, near Arilova, here, on Saturday.
Aditya Kaura, Chief Operating Officer of HCG, said the clinic would offer free consultation to patients and diagnostic tests would be done at 50% of the cost on Thursdays.
Addressing a media conference in this connection, Pavan Karella, surgical oncologist, said that there was growing incidence of lung cancers even among non-smokers or passive smokers. In the past, while 90% of the cases were due to smoking, now half of the cases were being seen among non-smokers.
This could be due to ‘passive smoking’ or due to pollution. The symptoms include persistent cough and blood in sputum and pain. If cancer cells spread to the brain, it could cause fits and if they spread to the liver, they might cause jaundice, he said.
HCG Cancer Centre, Visakhapatnam, has successfully treated rare high risk lung cancer cases and the post operative condition of the patients was also good.
Vishwanth, surgical oncologist, and Narendra Prakash, anaesthetist, and other supporting staff were present. This team was supported for other modalities by Bhaskar Bhuvan, medical oncologist, and Pradeep, radiation oncologist.
Ramesh Naidu, an employee of a private firm in the city, and Pramod Behera from Odisha, who were successfully treated for lung cancer were present.
“A couple of months before August 2021, I had pain on the right side of my chest and I had neglected it thinking it is not serious. When I had pain again, I went round various hospitals before finally coming to HCG. I was given chemotherapy and radiation and the surgery was done on November 29. The chemotherapy and radiation were repeated after the surgery. I am feeling a lot better now,” says Ramesh Naidu.
