‘Ovarian cancer second most common type in Pakistan’

Karachi

Incidence of ovarian cancer in Pakistan is increasing at an alarming rate as around 13.6 percent of women have been suffering from this cancer and, of them, over 70 percent are diagnosed at later stages only, making it highly difficult for the healthcare providers to treat the deadly disease. The cancer comes second to breast cancer which is the most common among Pakistani women. 

This was revealed by health experts in a session, ‘International Awareness Symposium on Gynaecology’ organised by Ziauddin University in collaboration with Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG).

The objective of the symposium was to enlighten health providers and broaden their horizon on the rapidly advancement in modern treatment.

Dr Noor Jehan Samad, the chief guest at the symposium, welcomed the participation of young doctors and said it was high time to synergise the efforts of medical fraternity, policy makers, government and media.

“Awareness can play a very significant role in dealing with the challenge of ovarian cancer in Pakistan. International awareness symposium on Gynaecology organised by Ziauddin University will encourage other institutions to follow the footprints to address the growing challenge,” she added.

She emphasised proper Antenatal Clinics, preventive obstetrics and early detection of Diabetes mellitus: “Diagnosis of ovarian cancer at early stages can cut down the medical burden and suffering of the patients and family,” she added.

Prof Rubina Hussain Head of Department, Gynaecology Ziauddin Hospital said we should keep pace with the changes and development in gynae. Pakistan should follow footprints of international health care system and we must adapt ourselves according to it: “Our objective must be to ensure better treatment for the patient.”

She added that the research department in the university was addressing this issue and also published research papers in journals for the same purpose.

Prof Dr Tariq Siddiqui, Professor and Director Ziauddin Cancer Hospital, spoke about ‘Before and After Surgery’ and told the treatment of malignant disease like other disciplines in medicine is highly data dependent and data synthesis leads to therapeutic decisions.

He also spoke about problems in assessing patients post surgery. “The reports that patients bring are from all over the country and standards are generally lacking, with an exception in large referral hospitals and, radiology departments in the country have become an industry where cost determines where patients go for CT scans, MRI tests,” he said.

He added that a few CT films which were available often had no relevance to the lesions described in discussion of the test: “Giving awareness to patients in this regard is also very important as they often go for cheaper tests but end up spending more when the tests are not up to the quality standards,” he added.

Dr Tasneem Aslam Tariq, Dr Adnan Zuberi, Dr. Qurat-ul-Ain Badar, Ms. Fauzia Pesnani, Ms. Amina Mujib Khan also spoke on the occasion. They stated that ovarian cancer is a common and fatal gynecological malignancy with high morbidity and mortality.

They said long term survival chances are less than 30 per cent at advanced stages and symptoms were non-specific. “Tumour markers are non-specific and CA-125 (Cancer Antigen -125) is not the marker for ovarian cancer only and it may be raised in other conditions as well,” they added.