80% head, neck cancer preventable

TODAY IS WORLD HEAD AND NECK CANCER DAY

Stopping tobacco use and adopting a healthy lifestyle can prevent almost 80 percent of head and neck cancer cases in India, say doctors. Head and neck cancer cases account for 30 and 10 percent of total cancers in males and females respectively between 2007 and 2011, according to a consolidated report of Bengaluru's National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research.

"Almost 80 percent of the head and neck cancers are preventable since the majority of them are tobacco induced - smoke or the smokeless forms," Tapaswini Pradhan, senior consultant for surgical oncology at the BLK Super Speciality Hospital here, told this correspondent. "Due to increase in alcohol consumption and tobacco, there is an alarming increase in incidence of head and neck cancer cases over the past decade in developing countries like India," Pradhan added.

Fifty percent of head and neck cancers are oral cancers or mouth cancers, said A.K. Dewan, consultant and chief of head and neck surgical oncology at the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute here. Other major forms of head and neck cancer include lyrangial cancer (voice-box cancer), throat cancer (phyrangial cancer), paranasal sinus cancer (sinus cancer), thyroid and salivary gland cancers, Dewan explained.

To draw the world's attention to effective care and control of head and neck cancer, the International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies (IFHNOS) proposed at its fifth World Congress in New York last year that July 27 be declared World Head Neck Cancer Day. The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) also supported the move and July 27 will be observed as such from this year.

Explaining the need for a different advocacy programme for this eminently preventable disease, Dewan said that the problems in head and neck cancers are very different in the sense that they affect day-to-day life in far greater way than any other type of cancer. "Head and neck cancers affect all essential functions including speech, breathing and swallowing," Dewan said.

"More importantly, in most of the cancers we do not know the reason why they are occurring but in case of head and neck cancers 80 percent of deaths are due to tobacco chewing or smoking," he said. "We also know that by cessation of tobacco chewing we can virtually prevent head and neck cancers," he emphasised.

Rakesh Dhurkhare, consultant for general and laparoscopy surgery at Gurgaon's Paras Hospitals, agreed. He said that the cancer-causing effect of tobacco goes up when it is combined with betel nut and lime. "Better oral hygiene, avoiding repetitive injury inside the mouth by sharp teeth and non-consumption of spicy food and alcohol can also help prevent these deadly cancers," Dhurkhare pointed out.

He said that India's poorer states bear the maximum burnt of head and neck cancers. The maximum cases of head and neck cancers are reported from Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh Dhurkhare pointed out. "Particularly in Assam, about 50 percent cases of all the cancers are of the head and neck region," he said. Pradhan said that the maximum number of tongue cancers is reported from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, followed by Goa.

Besides tobacco chewing and smoking, ill-fitting dentures, which cause wounds, and some viral infections, including one caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), can result in infections and cancers of the head and neck region, Tushar Patil, medical oncologist at Pune's Columbia Asia Hospital explained.

By Gokul Bhagabati