Cancer can be fought and won

With new breakthroughs in medicine and early diagnosis, any type of cancer can be overcome, experts said on Wednesday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here. "Many patients worry unnecessarily and they are carried away by cancer myths," said Atul sharma, assistant professor in the department of medical oncology. He said nearly 80 per cent of cancer patients "think they are in the gallows of death". "But with new breakthroughs in medical field and with early diagnosis, any type of cancer can be prevented," he added. Sharma said that while some cancers were genetic, "this does not mean that one will definitely develop cancer because of their heredity". Breast cancer and ovarian cancer can be passed down genetically. "If a parent has these cancers, the cancer gene may be passed to their child. If a child inherits the gene it raises the likelihood of developing cancer, but this happens rarely," Sharma said. According to AIIMS, India gets about nine lakh new cancer cases and four lakh deaths occur annually due to the disease. There are about 30 lakh cancer patients in India at any point of time.