Cancer is curable, if it is detected early, say doctors

‘Technological advancements have made treatment easy’

Though cancer can develop in any organ, advanced medical technology is helping to treat it with better outcomes, said doctors at GEM Hospital, who specialise in treating cancers of the digestive system.

At the Wellness webinar series on Wednesday, hosted by the hospital and The Hindu, the doctors discussed various treatment options that offer better care and cure.

R. Vinoth Kumar, medical gastroenterologist, said adenocarcinoma was on the rise because of changing food habits.

“If a patient is picked up at an early stage, endoscopic procedures are enough to treat cancers. Endoscopy is a good tool for detecting tumours, abnormal tissues and do a biopsy. Screening high risk groups for tumours would optimise treatment,” he said.

According to P. Senthilnathan, head of the Department of HPB surgery, GEM Hospital, Coimbatore, “There is no bias in cancer treatment as there is a medical board that determines the treatment to be provided,” he said, adding that cancers of each organ behave differently and manifests differently in each patient. The chief operating officer of the Coimbatore branch of the hospital, R. Parthasarathi, said issues such as weight loss, loss of appetite, altered bowel habits should ring an alarm bell and people should go for screening. “It is not a disease that kills. New technology and multimodal treatment will help provide the right treatment,” he said.

C. Palanivelu, chairman of the hospital, emphasised the need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Patients often turned up with symptoms when the disease was in an advanced stage, he said. Latest technology like 3D printing, virtual and augmented reality, individualised treatment, had led to cure, preserving the immunity and better long-time survival if people took early treatment, he added.