EVERY CHILD MATTERS: THINKING BEYOND BOUNDARIES
The word Cancer itself is scary. And, when it hits children it can be really bad. The truth is Cancer occurs in people of all ages and children are no exception. Cancer in children is curable if detected early. Recent studies point out that over 3,00,000 children are diagnosed with cancer all over the world every year. In India, more than 50,000 new childhood cancer cases are detected each year and this is about 20% of all pediatric cancers in the world. Likely many cases are “missed” and the incidence is higher than what is reported. It is presumed that about 60% of the children with newly diagnosed cancers in India will succumb to the disease as opposed to only 10% of the children in developed countries. Cancer in children spreads like a wildfire in the body and reaches an advanced stage in just a few weeks. And few symptoms which could be a signal for parents to seek timely medical
consultation immediately. One should suspect malignancy if fever persists beyond 1-2 weeks and after all the basic tests for infections and common illnesses have come out to be negative. Often these children are treated for typhoid or TB without adequate evidence. Other common symptoms are bone pains and lump felt anywhere in the body – commonly in the belly, neck or bones. These lumps are generally painless and keep growing in size. In some children it can present with back pain, paleness of skin, bruises and unexplained weight loss, recent onset of squint, and white reflex in the pupil or protrusion of eyes. Brain tumours can present with recurrent headaches, vomiting or a person's manner of imbalance walking.
A lot of parents, who bring their child with a suspicion of cancer or a new diagnosis of cancer, end up abandoning treatment due to lack of awareness, denial of the fact that their child has cancer, lack of knowledge about the curability of childhood cancer and lack of finances to support the treatment. There are countless obstacles to accessing quality cancer care which the parents face from diagnosis to treatment.
Childhood cancers are more responsive to treatment and have better cure rates as compared to adult cancers. The types of cancers seen in adults and children are also different. While children more often suffer from blood cancers, lymphomas and brain tumours; solid tumours like breast, prostate, lung, oral, stomach and intestine cancers to name a few. Unlike adult Children tolerate chemotherapy much better and have fewer side effects and high cure rates. Like they say, every child has a superhero inside him. They don’t worry about the outcomes, appearance, finances and future.
Being held by right doctor and treatment to cure anything may help. In today’s times, the medicines, equipment, and techniques available to a medical practitioner for treatment for children with cancer ranges from less toxic chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, specialized surgeries, and radiotherapy in selected patients and even observation in certain cancers with the potential to regress naturally.
A multidisciplinary approach including a pediatric oncologist, pediatric surgeon, radiation oncologist, psychologist, trained nursing staff, nutritionist is crucial to deal with children with cancer. With increasing survivors of childhood cancers, it has been realized that it’s not only important to cure but to cure with the least toxic protocols. Modern risk-adapted treatment protocols are planned to give the least toxic medications to avoid the potential short term and long term side effects.
Chairman & M.D.
Dr. Anil Kumar M.R
MBBS, MD-RT, DNB-RT
Stereotactic Radio surgeon &
Precision Radiation Oncologist
