Bhubaneswar: The incidence of blood cancer or leukemia in India has been on the upswing with high number of children getting afflicted by the disease, an expert has said.
Children in the age group of one to ten years are getting the disease but they are displaying the capacity to defeat the ailment better, said Dr Priyanka Samal, Professor and Head of the
Department of Hematology, Hemato Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar.
Though new cases of leukemia are being detected among the young, around 80 to 90 per cent of the children are able to defeat the disease with proper treatment and care, she said while addressing an event held to mark the World Blood Cancer Day on Wednesday.
Samal said pollution, radiation and use of chemical fertilizer were among the prime causes of the disease.
Stating that between 80,000 to one lakh new cases of blood cancer are detected in India annually, she said it claimed around 70,000 lives.
The symptoms of the disease which included continued fever, fall in hemoglobin, total leukocyte count and platelet level, appearance of black spots on the body and bleeding, should not be ignored. This calls for urgent blood examination of the patient and medical consultation.
In case children suffer from fever for eight to ten days, they should get medical attention, Samal said adding IMS and SUM Hospital had facilities for latest treatment regimen like bone marrow transplantation, haplo transplant and Chimeric Antigen Receptor- T (CAR-T) Cell Therapy.
Dr Pusparaj Samantasinghar, Medical Superintendent of the hospital run by Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA), said blood cancer patients being treated in the hospital were getting the service of Department of Transfusion Medicine, Genetic and Molecular Lab, Lab Hematology, Critical Care Unit and specialized nursing care under the same roof.
Dr Sanghamitra Mishra, Dean of IMS and SUM Hospital, said the hospital was extending a wide range of diagnostic services including advanced imaging and laboratory tests to accurately identify the case.
Dr Samir Sahu, Professor in the Medicine department, said the hospital had been extending healthcare to the masses for nearly two decades with the level of treatment improving every passing year.
Dr Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, eminent neuro surgeon and SOA’s Principal Advisor (Health Sciences), urged the cancer patients to face the disease with determination and courage.
