Most of the time, only bad news is written in papers. But in some instances, there is also good news – although very few.
One of the good news I read recently is that the City Health Office (CHO) of Davao City is offering cancer detection and prevention programs in all of its health centers throughout the year.
During the recent ISpeak Media Forum, CHO head, Dr. Tomas Miguel Ababon said that his office has detection programs for lung cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. This is part of the Non-communicable Diseases (NSD) program of the Department of Health (DOH).
“For Lung Cancer, we have a smoking cessation program that we implement all year round. For breast cancer, we can teach women how to conduct a self-breast examination. Also, when they visit health centers, the nurses and midwives also examine their breasts,” Ababon was quoted as saying by the City Information Office.
The CHO is offering visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), which can be done in health centers. According to Dr. Ababon, if the inspection reveals a discoloration of the cervix, the patient is immediately referred to specialists.
Dr. Ababon urged children to be vaccinated with Hepatitis B to prevent liver cancer. After all, children who contract hepatitis B at a young age have a higher chance of contracting liver cirrhosis or liver cancer after several years, he said.
Cancer starts as a single cell and grows into a merciless disease that claims millions of lives year after year. It is one of the leading killers around the world. It accounts for 6 million or 12 percent of deaths globally, according to the World Health Organization.
Fifty-eight percent of those who succumbed to cancer come from developing countries. In the Philippines, for instance, cancer is the fifth leading cause of death. This is because more than half of all cancer cases in the country “are diagnosed at an advanced stage, when it is already too late to save the patient.”
For every 1,000 Filipinos, one gets cancer. And the incidence is higher among females than males, according to the Philippine Cancer Society Inc. (PCSI). Ninety-one percent occur between the ages of 35 and above. Three-fourths of all cancer cases in the country occur between the ages 50 and above.
Cancer, which comes from the Greek word karkinos which means “crab,” is a group of cells that has lost its normal control mechanisms and thus has unregulated growth. “Cancerous [malignant] cells can develop from any tissue within any organ,” explains The Merck Manual of Medical Information. “As cancerous cells grow and multiply, they form a mass of cancerous tissue—called a tumor—that invades and destroys normal adjacent tissues.”
The term “tumor” refers to an abnormal growth or mass; it can be either cancerous or noncancerous. Cancerous cells from the primary (initial) site can spread (metastasize) throughout the body.
Science tells us that each time a human cell divides, it must replicate its DNA, a biochemical manuscript some 3 billion characters long. While transcribing such a lengthy document, even a skilled typist could be expected to make mistakes, and cells, like typists, occasionally err. The mistakes they make are minor and quickly repaired by proteins that serve as miniature mechanics.
More often than not, cells with defects in their DNA will continue to divide, eventually forming small growths.
“The more cell-division cycles an organism undergoes, the more likely it is to accumulate colonies of abnormal cells, each of the offspring of a single progenitor,” writes Time science writer J. Madeleine Nash. “By the time humans reach middle adulthood, then their bodies contain millions of cells that have taken at least one step toward cancer.”
The Merck manual, however, gives specific details on how cancer develops. “Cancerous cells develop from healthy cells in a complex process called transformation,” it explains. “The first step in the process is initiation, in which a change in the cell’s genetic material [in the DNA and sometimes in the chromosome structure] primes the cell to become cancerous. The change in the cell’s genetic material may occur spontaneously or be brought by an agent that causes cancer [carcinogen].”
Carcinogens include many chemicals (arsenic, asbestos, benzene, and nickel, to name a few), tobacco, viruses, radiation, and sunlight. A person exposed to a carcinogen (by breathing, eating, or touching it for long periods) does not necessarily mean he will certainly be afflicted with cancer, the PCSI said. “It only increases the possibility,” it added.
“However, not all cells are equally susceptible to carcinogens,” the Merck manual says. “A genetic flaw in a cell may make it more susceptible. Even chronic physical irritation may make a cell more susceptible to carcinogens.”
The most important factor that affects the chances for the cure of cancer is the stage at which it is detected. Two out of six cancer cases in the Philippines are cured, medical experts claimed. “But three out of six could have been cured, if only diagnosed earlier,” they maintained.
