World Cancer Day: cancers don't mean death

Having cancer means dying? Is it hard to find cancer early? Are humans really helpless for cancer? Late cancer? Is treating cancer a doctor's business?

Today is World Cancer Day, the theme of the 2015 World Cancer Day is "cancer prevention and control goals, not far off".

Having cancer means dying? Is it hard to find cancer early? Are humans really helpless for cancer? Late cancer? Is treating cancer a doctor's business?

As the incidence rate goes up, cancer is invading people's lives more and more. For various reasons, there are many stereotypes and misunderstandings about the causes and prevention of cancer, which affect the early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment of cancer. Xinhua News agency reporter focused on five misunderstandings, through interviews with authoritative experts to clarify.

Myth one: Dare not face cancer

It is still a common phenomenon to talk about the color change of cancer. "For most people, being diagnosed with cancer is a major event that changes a person's life, and the feeling of shock, fear, anger, sadness, loneliness and anxiety arises," says Wang Green, vice president of the cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. In some environments, cancer is still a taboo to talk about, and cancer sufferers are often discriminated against, so that patients are afraid to admit that they are cancer patients.

The survey shows that in low-and middle-income countries, people have a pessimistic view of cancer. In low-income countries, 48% of people think there is no cure for cancer, and cancer is the same as being sentenced to death. In middle-income countries, 39% of people share the same view. By contrast, only 17% of high-income countries have this view. This erroneous view may affect people's willingness to participate in cancer screening and is very detrimental to early detection and treatment of cancer.

"We still stay in the old days about the idea of cancer." "The Chinese Medicine oncology expert, the Shanghai University of Chinese Medicine Professor He Yumin has pointed out in the article, we must realize," the cancer, who all can not evade, everybody needs to guard against ", must take the comprehensive measure, the correct judgment. Confronting cancer and correctly understanding cancer can enable patients to get early treatment and create a good environment for them to get a high quality diagnosis and treatment.

Misunderstanding two: Cancer can not be found early

Many people believe that there is no clear signal early in the cancer, the discovery is usually in the middle and late. In fact, several cancers, such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer, may be found in asymptomatic cases through routine health examinations and censuses. The site of superficial tumors, such as skin cancer, oral cancer, can be diagnosed in time by biopsy. Some tumors located within the body may also be detected early by routine examinations, such as asymptomatic early renal cell carcinoma and early liver cancer, which can be detected early by ultrasonography.

Early detection of cancer is a priority project and strategy for cancer prevention and control, as set out in the World Health Organization's cancer control program. Through early detection, can greatly improve the effectiveness of treatment, about one-third of cancer can be cured by early diagnosis, Canada has confirmed that effective breast, cervical and colorectal screening programs can reduce the overall rate of cancer deaths by 5%, that is, 7000 cancer patients die each year. In the United States, the recent 10 years of decline in breast cancer mortality, a great credit should be attributed to the promotion of breast screening programs.

To this end, China Anti-Cancer Association of Science popularization propaganda Minister, Beijing Xuanwu Hospital Thoracic Surgery Director of the proposal to establish cancer screening, anti-cancer medical examination early treatment of effective means and programs; expand cancer screening, anti-cancer medical examination early treatment population coverage; screening cancer, The early diagnosis and treatment of cancer medical examination is gradually integrated into the basic public health service and health service system supported by medical insurance, and the prevention of cancer should be included in the evaluation of tumor Hospital and grade three hospital.

Myth Three: There's nothing we can do about cancer

Although cancer is still a problem in the medical world, humans are not at a loss to face cancer. Research shows that, under the guidance of correct decision, quite a few common tumors can be prevented.

Advocating a healthy lifestyle is an important part of the prevention of cancer. Promoting healthy lifestyles at the global, regional and national levels is necessary to reduce the incidence of cancer resulting from alcoholism, unhealthy diets and lack of sports.

As the most common risk factor, smoking is associated with 71% of all lung cancer deaths and 22% of all cancer deaths. According to current trends, smoking kills 1 billion people in 21st century. Similarly, alcoholism is a risk factor for cancer and is well known to be associated with increased cancer risk in the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, intestines and breast, and increases the risk of cancer and colon cancer in women. Overweight and obesity rates are growing at an alarming rate around the world, including children and adolescents. Overweight and obesity are strongly associated with increased risk of intestinal, breast, uterus, pancreas, esophagus, kidney and gallbladder cancers.

The Chinese Cancer Foundation's 12 recommendations for staying away from cancer include: keep away from tobacco, prevent infection, and within normal weight, be thinner and better; exercise at least 30 minutes a day, avoid drinking sugary beverages, limit food with high calorie density, eat different kinds of vegetables and fruits, whole grains and legumes, and reduce the consumption of red meat Avoid eating processed meats; Men should not have more than two cups per day, a woman limited to one cup; limit consumption of salty food and processed food; Do not use nutritional supplements to prevent cancer; it is best to breastfeed the baby to six months old and then add other foods;

Misunderstanding four: terminal cancer don't cure

WHO officials point out that all people have the right to equal and effective treatment, so as to avoid suffering from disease. In most cases, the most difficult to accept in cancer treatment is the lack of adequate palliative care and pain relief measures. There are only a few drugs that can control cancer pain in nearly 90% of cancerous patients, including children, but in many countries it is common for patients to not be adequately treated for pain.

Dr. Zhao Jinming, the sixth hospital affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University, believes that advanced tumor therapy should adhere to the "people-oriented" idea, that is, to improve patients ' symptoms, control disease development, improve quality of life, prolong survival period. According to the patient's condition, age, economic status, treatment expectations and other aspects of the start, to achieve "tailored" type of treatment. For chemotherapy and other treatment methods, patients do not worry too much. Although radiotherapy and chemotherapy have a certain side effects, but through the existing means can be effectively reduced, patients should not be afraid of side effects refused to release chemotherapy.

Myth Five: Treating cancer is a doctor's job

The WHO survey found that 75% of people in low-income countries think doctors are the ones who decide to plan a cure for cancer, and only 8% agree that patients should make decisions with doctors. By contrast, 72% of the developed world's people agree with the model that patients and doctors decide together.

In the clinical, often is when the patient's mentality is positive, the thought is optimistic, together with the scientific standard treatment, causes the patient the condition to be stable, or the illness prolongs the life, and guaranteed the quality of life. So in the treatment process patients should pay attention to individual psychological mood fluctuations, because the treatment of cancer is not only the doctor, the patient to maintain a good attitude is also important.

Zhao Jinming reminded that, in addition to patients and doctors, the responsibility of the family is also very important. On the one hand, to do a good job of the patient's psychological support, the patient may have different degrees of fear, targeted psychological guidance; On the other hand, we should closely observe the changes in the condition to prevent complications.