JEDDAH, 20 October 2007 — More than 250 people are diagnosed with lung cancer in Saudi Arabia each year, according to statistics released by the Saudi National Cancer Registry. The figures make up 4 percent of the total cancer cases identified in male and female Saudis.
The statistics also show that men are more prone to lung cancer than women and that there has been an upsurge in lung cancer among women due to an increased use of hookah. The increase coincides with a trend across the Kingdom for coffee shops tha5t cater exclusively serving women.
Lung cancer is considered to be a common form of cancer, ranking first in the world and fifth in Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Yaser Bahader, tumor consultant at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, said, “Avastin, a new drug, has proved to be effective in cancer therapy. This has improved treatment by 25 percent. This type of therapy cuts nutrition and oxygen off from tumors.”
Bahader added that surgery is helpful in curing cancer only in its first and second stages.
Only 30 percent of patients diagnosed opt for surgery and that most cases are discovered in advanced stages, he said.
Twenty percent of lung cancer cases are discovered in the third stage, when the tumor reaches the lymph nodes in the chest; 50 percent of cases are discovered in the fourth stage, when the tumor has spread across the whole body. Cancer that is in the third and fourth stages needs chemical and radiation treatment in addition to the drug therapy. Seventy percent of cancer in these stages cannot be treated by surgery.
Speaking about techniques that help smokers stop, Bahader said, “Nicotine patches and other techniques are useless, unless people have the will and intention to quit smoking. They only help to reduce the symptoms, which aren’t that serious.”
He added, “Fasting requires people to stop smoking the whole day of Ramadan. This is a clue that humans are able to quit smoking through their own will power without any outside help.”
