Paediatric cancer or childhood cancer comes with an array of myths that need to be busted. Here are some of them.
The cure rate of paediatric cancer is almost 80 percent but the disturbing fact is there is very less awareness about cancers in children as the incidence of childhood cancer in the society is still not addressed. Childhood cancers are not usually preventable or detected with screening but if detected early, childhood malignancies are highly curable with a cure rate of 80% where they are usually treated with chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, either as a single modality or combination of these.
The disturbing fact is there is very less awareness about paediatric cancer in our country and a large portion of the incidence of childhood cancer in the society is still not addressed. The symptom of each cancer varies but the most prominent factors in all of them are poor growth, poor weight gain and decreased appetite and cancer in children is quite different from that in adults in many ways.
Pediatric cancer comes with an array of myths that need to be busted. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Amit Kumar, Pediatric Oncologist from HCG Cancer Care Centre in Mumbai, debunked some of these myths and shared facts –
- Myth: Pediatric cancer is infectious
Fact: That’s not true as cancer is a non communicable disease unlike flu and it cannot be transmitted.
- Myth: Childhood cancers are inherited from parents
Fact: Not all childhood cancers are genetic. In fact, most of the childhood cancers have no association with genetic patterns and heredity and are due to random mutation.
- Myth…
Source: Childhood cancer: Doctor busts myths around paediatric cancer, reveals facts
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