Blood cancer is a widely prevalent type of cancer, estimated to account for 8% of all new cases of cancer in India. Challenges faced in terms of diagnosis and treatment options available in India is explained here.
Lack of knowledge about blood cancer, its symptoms and treatment options, is leading to delay in seeking care in India. Blood cancer is a widely prevalent type of cancer, estimated to account for 8% of all new cases of cancer in India. In terms of reported cases of blood cancer, India ranks 3rd highest, after the US and China. Do you know the causes and risk factors of blood cancer? What are the treatment options available in India?
1. What are the most common types of blood cancer in India? Elaborate on their causes and risk factors.
Common types of blood cancer in India are: Lymphoma, Leukemia, and Myeloma. Causes and risk factors:
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- Genetic abnormalities
- Tobacco and Alcohol use
- Exposure to radiation and harmful chemicals
- Family history of blood cancer
- Certain existing hematological abnormalities like MDS, Aplastic Anemia
- Lymphomas can have other causes like presence of connective tissue disorders, immunodeficiency states, Viral infections like EBV, HTLV-1
2. How aware people are about this condition and what are the challenges faced in India in terms of diagnosis and treatment .?
- Lack of awareness regarding blood cancers especially in the rural population.
- Delay in seeking care by ignoring the symptoms at an early stage and/or delay in diagnosis.
- Not everyone can afford it as the treatment is usually expensive.
- Lack of awareness regarding blood donation for HLA typing and being a potential bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell donor for the needy in future. India has a severe shortage of bone marrow donors.
3. Blood cancers (including leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma) are believed to be more common in men than women. Please explain the reason.
- There are gender differences in susceptibility to various diseases like cancer and autoimmune diseases. While cancers tend to be more prevalent in males, autoimmune diseases are common in females.
- In India, tobacco and alcohol usage is more common in males when compared to females. That could be one reason why blood cancers are detected more often in men.
- Other factors that cause gender disparity in susceptibility to cancers include sex hormones, genetic differences and environmental factors. The latter includes occupational exposure in men, tobacco and alcohol usage, lifestyle etc.
4. Could you please shed light on the latest treatments and survival rate in India?
- Treatment options for blood cancers include chemotherapeutic agents, biologic agents, targeted therapies, radiation therapy and bone marrow or stem cell transplantation.
- A lot of scientific studies are going on with respect to targeted therapies in treatment of leukemia’s and other certain cancers. These drugs are different from conventional chemotherapy drugs.
- The treatment options differ for different types of blood cancer.
- Survival rate depends on the type of blood cancer the patient is having. For example, 5 year survival rates are one of the lowest for Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a type of blood cancer,especially if it’s advanced, and one of the highest for the blood cancer called CLL or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and certain lymphomas like Hodgkin’s lymphoma when detected early.
- Survival rates also depend on the age of the person and how far the leukemia has spread at the time of diagnosis. Hence the importance of early diagnosis and treatment cannot be overemphasized.
Dr. Sudarshan S
Consultant Physician
Medall Healthcare Pvt Ltd
