Cancer hardly hereditary, yet earlier testing could help say doctors

Even as more than 95 per cent of cancer patients have not acquired the disease from their parents or family gene, it is better to test for the disease at an early age say doctors at the Can Stop Cancer session here in the city on Friday.

A panel of five doctors specialised in oncology and practising in various hospitals in Coimbatore participated and shared their views at the session jointly organised by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Young Indians (Yi) as a part of their Healthy Kovai imitative.

Talking at the session, Dr. Karthikesh, Consultant Surgical Oncologist at the Sri Ramakrishna Hospital in the city said that out of the four lakh cases of cancer that have been treated recently, only five per cent of the patients have acquired the disease from their parents, whereas 95 per cent of them have acquired the disease from external factors like bad habits, chemical changes in the body and cell mutations.

“When a person is aging, there would be constant mutation in his body. This change could reduce the immune system and cause cancer,” said Dr. Rajasekar Thirunyanam, Oncologist at Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital (KMCH).

Elaborating about the types of cancer that is prevalent in the country, Dr.Senthilkumar Ganapathy from Gem Hospitals said that unlike Westerners, Indians were prone to oral cancer owing to their tobacco chewing habits. “Women are prone to breast cancer,” he added.

Dr. Sudhakar, Consultant Oncologist from the American Institute of Oncology Centre at the Royal Care Hospital said that since some cases of breast cancer could be hereditary, it would be helpful for women in the family in their thirties to get a screening colognoscopic testing.

He also informed that there were not proper symptoms to identify the disease despite certain factor could provide prior information.

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