‘Nutritious diet important to prevent cancer in children’

A two-day workshop on childhood diseases at the Cancer Institute focussed on common cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancers).

On Friday, three German scientists working in the field of paediatric cancers held discussions with scientists from the Cancer Institute, CMC (Vellore), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, and Indian Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneshwar, participated in the discussion.

Researchers say a good balanced diet is an important component in preventing these diseases.“In this workshop, we are trying to work together to improve the outcome in the patients,” said T.S. Ganesan, Department of Medical and Paediatric Oncology, Cancer Institute.

While ALL has a cure rate of 93 per cent in developed countries, in India it is only 75 per cent. Similarly, AML has a cure rate of 60 per cent in India whereas in developed countries it is 70 per cent. Around 60 per cent of bone tumours in young adolescents and adults can be cured but delayed referrals bring down the cure rate, oncologists said.

The take home message is that if a child who has persistent fever and presents with swollen glands, then he / she should be taken to a general practitioner. Blood tests will reveal abnormality in the cell count which will enable them to refer to a specialist.

The workshop, organised by the German House for Research and Innovation, was to find ways to develop collaboration on treatment and research in childhood cancers. “It is the result of increasing cooperation between German and Indian academic and scientific communities,” said Suboor Bakht, deputy director, Heidelberg Centre, South Asia.