Bikaner: In order to highlight the importance of collaborative disease management, advanced treatment modalities and to stress on early diagnosis, Max Institute of Cancer Care, Saket organised a public awareness session, today.
People needs to be made aware that with recent advancements in oncology, cancer is completely treatable. And early diagnosis can not only significantly increase the chances of survival, but also provide a better quality of life.
With advancement of technology, minimal access cancer surgeries have become a common place.Minimally invasive surgeries have numerous advantages for patients in comparison to traditional surgeries including minimal scars, faster recovery, reduced pain, shorter duration of hospital stays, and lesser post-surgery complications. With the advanced surgical technologies like da Vinci robotic-assisted surgeries, we are able to perform these procedures more efficiently with minimal post-operative care and faster recovery. In fact, the preference for Robotic Surgery has increased after the pandemic since it reduces hospital stay and post-surgical complications” said Dr Asit Arora, Director, GI Surgery, Max Hospital, Saket.
“With the recent advancements in the treatment modalities for cancer, various types of cancers even in the last stages have shown decent outcomes and improved patient survival rates, in the recent past. There are times some cancers, such as those of the peritoneal surfaces, present only in the late 3rd or 4th stages with ambiguous symptoms. Newer treatment options such as HIPEC and PIPAC have emerged as their only hope for such rare and advanced peritoneal cancers with better disease control/management. So far, cancers of the peritoneal surfaces have been considered to be untreatable or had dismal results.
Precision oncology is one such recent advancement gaining grounds for the treatment of various types of cancers, where doctors look at the specific changes in the gene and tailor the treatment based on the mutation. Doctors at Max Healthcare have been at the forefront of precision medicine in India.
In fact, now cancers of large intestine, breast, melanoma (a kind of skin cancer), blood cancers, ovarian cancers are treated increasingly based on precision oncology.
“The eventual goal is to improve cure rates, survival and minimise usage of costly or ineffective treatment. While earlier, patients required chemotherapy, but with the advent of precision oncology, there is a paradigm shift in the treatment modality of the disease. Addressed through targeted therapy, this modality is more effective, and have lesser side effects than chemotherapy. We have the capacity to perform lab tests for precision medicines, we have experienced molecular oncologist and clinicians who can offer their expertise to patients. Complex cases are taken to Molecular Tumour Boards and decisions are arrived at after extensive multidisciplinary discussions.” Said Dr Devavrat Arya, Director, Cancer Care/ Oncology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Delhi
Computer navigation for bone cancer removal is one technology which enables the surgeon to exactly reproduce the precise surgical plan that is made before surgery, ensuring minimum bone removal and retaining maximum form and functions of the limbs. Like all cancers, the focus is now on increased survival along with preservation of aesthetic and functional aspects.
“This intraoperative “GPS” gives the orthopaedic oncologist the precision in placement of cutting instruments on the bone reaching sub millimetre accuracies. These instruments can then cut just the amount of bone that is required to be sacrificed for complete disease removal, while retaining a lot of precious bone which would have been removed otherwise. Navigation also shows the surgeon critical structures like blood vessels and nerves in the vicinity of bone (particularly in cancers involving the bones of pelvis and sacrum), making these major surgeries safer and more effective. Giving the surgeon more confidence to make closer cuts, computer navigation has been shown to reduce bone loss, blood loss and operative time without compromising disease clearance. Hence, computer navigation is being seen as the next big thing in orthopaedic oncology surgery, which adds to safety and precision of these surgeries.” Said Dr Akshay Tiwari, Director, Musculoskeletal Oncology, Max Hospital, Saket, New Delhi
As per the recent data provided by Globacan 2020, head & neck cancer cases attributed to over 24% of all the cases with a total of 2.75 lakh new cases registered last year. Head & Neck cancer surgery is a rapidly evolving branch. It involves cancers such as oral, throat, voice box, thyroid, etc. “Earlier surgeries like neck dissection and thyroidectomy were painful, noticeable scars on the neck and distressing, which were mutilating or disfiguring at times. But with recent advances and modern technology, complicated and hard to access tumours can now be removed in a minimally invasive or scarless manner, through surgical robots. The treatment of majority of these cancers is possible and it may not necessarily be functionally morbid or cosmetically disfiguring. Many a times after cancer resection, we need to reconstruct the defect created. Such reconstructions may be costly and at times may still be disfiguring. In select cases, we can reconstruct the area from local tissues without increasing the cost much or causing apparent disfigurement.”Said Dr Akshat Malik, Consultant – Head and Neck Oncology, Max Hospital, Saket, New Delhi