Pakistan leads with highest number of breast cancer patients across Asia

Experts who shared data at conference said more oncologists were needed

PESHAWAR: The number of patients with cancer is unknown but officials assume it is over 0.3million in the country with around 44,000 patients from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Moreover, Pakistan tops the list of breast cancer patients in Asia. This was stated at the day-long conference on breast cancer management held at Pearl Continental Hotel in the city on Saturday.

At the conference, health experts stressed upon awareness and early detection of breast cancer, calling it the second most common cancer in the world. They said lack of awareness was one of the prime reasons for the prevalence of disease in the country.



“One out of nine women is a breast cancer patient,” stated a board displayed at the conference. According to the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre website, several studies and reports suggest that among Asian population, Pakistani women have the highest risk of breast cancer (after non-Arab Israeli women).

At the event, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre Consultant Medical Oncologist Dr Neelum Siddiqui added 40% patients admitted at the facility had breast cancer; not just from Pakistan and Afghanistan but also from Bangladesh.

Incidence, prevalence

According to Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicines (IRNUM) Peshawar, around 5,658 cancer patients were registered by the institute in 2014 – 750 of whom were breast cancer patients. IRNUM Chief Executive Dr Abdul Rauf Khattak said some 750 new cases of breast cancer have been registered at the facility where majority of the patients were in the third of fourth stages - the most critical stages for cure.

“People are becoming more aware and conscious about the disease and the treatment is expensive,” he said.

Khattak added a month’s treatment for cancer costs Rs50,000. He said the number of Her-2+ type breast cancer patients has crossed 150,000 and the 12 treatment injections cost around Rs1.2million annually.



Khattak said even though Pakistan had a fair share of oncologists, the rising number of patients was creating a shortage. When asked why fewer people opt for oncology, he said, “The hours are long and hectic and oncologists often have to sacrifice a lot of sleep.” Agha Khan University Hospital Karachi Consultant Radiation Oncologist Dr Ahmad Nadeem Abbasi said majority of patients do not need ultra-high radiation and stressed upon work on 2-D radiology treatment planning systems. He also said the country needed more surgeons for breast cancer.

According to Hayatabad Medical Complex Post Graduate Medical Institute Neurosurgery Associate Professor Dr Shahid Ayub, the tumour does not stay at one place but can metastasize and reach the brain as well as the backbone. “As soon as the patient feels severe pain in the back, she must go for investigation immediately,” he said.

Ayub said in cases where the tumour reaches the brain, headache, unconsciousness, and vomiting are common symptoms. “Besides surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy can also cure the disease,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2015.