Tata Memorial announces R&D for early detection of Throat cancer

Announces an early detection technique to save many lives

Tata Memorial hospital in Mumbai, an epitome of cancer research and treatment in India, has now achieved another breakthrough in cancer detection technology. Few Tata doctors present at a recent meeting of the American society of Clinical Oncology at Chicago announced their R&D achievement, of an early detection of throat cancer. The findings have also been reported in the English online medical journal, for a reference study in detail. The innovation is an extra cut along the neck, to detect the spread of malignant tumor or cancer, from oral cavity to the neck. The cut would be a preventive treatment (in medical terms prophylaxis), to avoid a radiation or a chemotherapy treatment at a later stage.

 

Indian figures for throat cancer are notably high, with one lakh cases reported each year. This form of cancer is most common in Indian men, and the third most common cause of malignancy in women. The ignorance of reporting it earlier, or also, the risk of detecting the cancerous lumps in the neck, keeps the treatment at bay. A neck dissection is a risk able proposition, considering it cuts around your nerves which control your facial expression and spine, veins and arteries along the neck. As a result, an early detection doesn’t happen very frequently, resulting in untimely deaths-within 12 months of diagnosis.

 

Alarmingly, in most cases the lesion in the oral cavity (in your tongue or jaw bone) is an early stage, which goes unnoticed by many patients. At present, the fact that the lesion has spread to your neck, can only be confirmed with a neck dissection. Hence, avoided by many people, till the time the bulge doesn’t reoccur. Also, many more symptoms call for action. A sore throat, hoarse voice, trouble swallowing, ear pain, wheezing, are few early symptoms which should not be ignored. Likely, these systems are not correctly diagnosed, until aided with a thorough medical investigation.

 

If a person decides not to undergo a neck dissection, he/she puts himself at greater risk to quality of life, and a reduced chance of survival. The research by Tata Memorial stimulates a brief pause to change our own clinical habits, and more seriously answers the unprecedented scoop of timely detection of throat cancer. Neck detection can save many more lives, by an early stage investigation of throat cancer. All it requires is a 30 minutes extra on the operation table, to enable a proper investigation of the malignant tumor. As a result, it’s a safe investment with high probability of gifting a fair chance of survival.