Cancer cases rising in India, says expert

Kolkata, July 2 (IANS) Cancer cases are increasing in India but with availability of state-of-the-art procedures, its treatment has touched new highs, an expert said.

"There is a rise in cancer cases in India in almost equal proportion among men and women," Shaikat Gupta, who heads the surgical oncology department at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital here, told IANS.

According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate, by 2020 cancer cases will be in equal proportion among both genders.

However, due to advancements in surgical techniques, many cancerous anomalies can be cured through surgery.

"Organ-confined cancers are treated by ultra-radical surgery. Heart cancer, lung cancer, gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer can be surgically treated now," Gupta said on the sidelines of a media conference that highlighted a new type of surgery conducted by Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals to treat leiomyosarcoma (a kind of pelvic tumour).

IANS