Hyderabad, February 15: With 85-95 per cent of childhood cancers curable, parents are the most important people and not the doctor or paediatrician in early recognition of small but unexplained symptoms like tiredness and weight loss, remarked cancer specialist P. Vijay Anand Reddy.
Talking to The Hindu on the eve of the International Childhood Cancer Day being observed on February 15, he said there was a need to create awareness among parents that cancers could happen in children and to look for problems. For instance, unexplained tiredness, weight loss and headache associated with vomiting in the mornings could be warning signs for brain tumour.
Repeated fever and paleness could also be signs of malignancy. Similarly, persistent pain in bones or joints with or without swelling was commonly seen in osteo-carcinoma.
Occurrence of bleeding for more than a few minutes while brushing teeth or due to bruises could indicate the possibility of leukaemia, said Dr. Reddy, who is director, Apollo Cancer Institute.
While childhood cancers were the second major cause for mortality after infections in the country, the good news was that with better cure rates in children, the recovery was faster. Most children tolerate better than adults the “dreadful treatment” of chemotherapy/ radiotherapy or surgery and later lead a normal life.
Dr. Reddy said the overall incidence of cancer per se was increasing in the country and the total cases were 10 lakhs among adults and 45,000 in children in 2009. One in every 300 children was expected to develop cancer.
Leukamias constitute 30 per cent of childhood cancers, followed by brain tumours (20 per cent) and lymphomas (10 per cent).
With retinoblastoma accounting for 3 per cent of all childhood cancers, Santosh Hanovar, eye cancer specialist from the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, said that if treated early children with the ailment would not only survive the cancer, but there was a good chance of saving their eyes.
White shiny glint in the child’s eye and squint were the early symptoms of the disease. There was a very high survival rate of over 95 per cent in retinoblastoma if treated by protocol methods.
–Agencies