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Noh Sung-hoon, director of Yonsei Cancer Center, says the earlier people find cancer, the better chances of survival. / Korea Times |
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Cancer used to be a name for all scary disease one could face ― it is still the No.1 cause of death among Koreans. Twenty-seven percent of 243,000 people who died in 2007 were diagnosed with the disease, according to the national statistical office.
In the days where everyone is so obsessed with longevity, health and so-called well-being, why is it that this disease still remains so uncontrollable?
Dr. Noh Sung-hoon, Director at Yonsei Cancer Center and Professor at Department of Surgery at Yonsei University College of Medicine says increase of the disease diagnosis is inevitable because people get to live longer. ``Cancer is not kind of a disease that `breaks out.' It develop through years, so the longer one lives the higher the chances that he or she gets the disease,'' he said.
He also pointed numerous campaigns and programs encouraging more people to have regular checkups and get diagnosed at earlier stages. ``In the old days some did not notice whether they had the disease till they died, but these days many people find the lumps earlier. In this context, we could technically say the number of diagnosed cases have increased, not the cancer itself,'' he said.
The exact mechanism of cancer is yet confirmed. No one really knows how exactly one gets the growths and therefore, how to prevent them from their being created. ``The best way is to find it earlier and get rid of it as early as possible,'' the authority on gastric cancer said.
However, Noh says one can pull out several possible influencing factors by comparing the most diagnosed cancers in the world. In Korea and some Asian world, gastric cancer, liver cancer and cervical cancer are the most diagnosed while in Western countries it's the lung, prostate, large intestine and breast that are most likely to carry the disease.
``Some experts speculates that foods, cultural background or physical shapes could contribute to such difference,'' he said. Spicier Asian foods tend to stimulate the stomach walls influencing gastric cancer while Westerners' greasier and meat-centered food could contribute to large intestinal one. The taller a woman is, the more likely it is for her to have breast cancer and smoking definitely affects lung cancer, he said.
However, Noh said Korea is slowly moving to more Westernized types of cancers. Traditionally most diagnosed cervical cancer has decreased thanks to campaigns promoting safe and hygienic sex as well as development of vaccine while more large intestinal cancer is diagnosed for more people enjoying meat or other high-protein and fatty foods.
Cancer is no more a disease linked directly to death. Noh's Yonsei Severance Hospital marks 65 percent remission rate (chances of patients' surviving more than five years) in gastric cancer and many others mark around 40 percent, too. ``The earlier you find it the chances of survival goes up dramatically,'' he said.
Since more doctors and patients share an understanding of biological characteristics of the disease, the use of anticancer drugs, radiotherapy and surgery gets more effective day by day, he said.
There were days when cancer patients had to carry around bags of pills and drugs. The excessive use of anticancer or antibiotic drugs stressed out the patients often, leaving huge side effects even after the treatment has been completed. Noh expressed skepticism toward such outdated measures.
``The reason many doctors depend on too much drug use is out of their own anxiety on `what if's. Questions such as what if the scar tissue gets infected? What about the inflammations and possible side effects? This drives them to use more drugs for prevention. However, these medicines are toxic enough to beat the cancer. If the doctors pay extra care and show confidence in treatment, you can reduce the dosage and make less impact on the patients' body, too,'' he said.
In fact, the Severance Cancer Center ranked the lowest place at the recent Ministry for Health, Welfare and family Affairs' research on drug prescription.
Noh said there is still yet no dramatic cure for the disease. ``In the future people will be able to deal with individuals based on genetic information but I assume that day will not come too soon. Till then, the best solution will be to have early checkups and diagnosis to ensure the minimum treatment,'' he said.
Noh stressed trust between patient and doctor. ``Doctors should be able to inform their patients with information about the disease. It means everything to them. In return, the patients should give full trust to the medicine. They shouldn't go around doing so-called doctor shopping, hospital after hospital, looking for someone to satisfy their curiosity,'' he said.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
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무디스, 스페인·伊·포르투갈 신용등급 강등
