Chandigarh, (Gurpreet) “No type of cancer is contagious. It does not spread by touch, shaking hands, kissing or living with a cancer patient,” Dr. Vijay Bansal, head of cancer surgery at Ivy Hospital, Mohai said that cancer is curable if detected early. The results of treatment depend on the stage in which it is diagnosed. If picked up in an initial stage, the chances of a perfect cure are more than 80% in many cancers.
Talking about cancer prevention, Dr. Bansal said that more than two-thirds of all fatal cancer cases can be prevented with simple lifestyle changes like eating lots of fruit, vegetables and whole grains, exercising , maintaining a healthy body weight, using protection against the sun and especially, not smoking.
Dr. Bansal further informed that though radical surgeries are required for certain cancers , nowadays organ preserving surgeries can be done without compromising the results like breast conservative surgeries and speech preserving surgeries in laryngeal cancers . Avoiding colostomy (permanent stool passage on tummy) is possible now in rectal cancers. This ensures better quality of life and gives functional & psychological advantage.
Some cancers are genetic, this does not mean that one will definitely develop cancer because of their heredity, he maintained.
Cancers such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer and colorectal cancer are a few of the cancers that 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 only raises the likelihood of developing cancer, not guaranteeing a cancer sentence. Such individuals need more frequent checkups and screening, asserted Dr. Bansal.