BEIJING, Sept. 19 -- While the medical community has made great achievements in researching blood diseases, many people are still not aware of the dangers of blood cancers and ignore early warning signs, often putting off treatment until it is too late, experts told a medical education forum over the weekend.
The incidence rate of non-hodgkin's lymphoma, the most common form of blood cancer, is increasing by 4 percent annually. About 360,000 people are diagnosed with the disease every year and less than one-third of them survive for five years after they contract the illness.
"There is no significant discomfort - the only symptom is unpainful enlargement of lymph node. Many people consider it a small problem and ignore it," said Dr Shen Zhixiang, director of Ruijin Hospital's hemotology department. "By the time the problem is diagnosed as cancer, many have missed the best treatment opportunity."
Shen said non-hodgkin's lymphoma is the cancer undergoing the most fruitful research, as Western experts have developed genetic medicines and even a genetic vaccine, which is undergoing clinical testing.
Early detection is the key to controlling the disease, doctors said.
The local pharmaceutical industry also announced the introduction of new drugs treating multiple myeloma, another progressive blood disease, at the forum.
"Concerned by the strong side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, pharmaceutical companies are focusing on genetic medicines and targeted-drug therapy, which only functions on cancerous cells while protecting healthy cells," said Alexander Delgado from Saint Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Canter in New York.
(Source: Shanghai Daily)
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