February 4 is World Cancer Day. Over the past three decades, the number of new cancer cases under the age of 50 worldwide has increased by 79%. In Ukraine, doctors say that because of the war, people are less likely to undergo a full body check-up, so the growth of cancer is unavoidable.
What is cancer?
Cancer arises from an altered cell that has “lost control” and started to divide excessively, forming a tumor. This can interfere with the functioning of nearby organs or displace healthy cells with mutated ones. The situation worsens when small lumps of cancer cells separate from the mother tumor and are carried by the bloodstream to other organs, forming metastases. This leads to disruption of the functioning of many organs and systems, exhaustion of the body and death.
Scientists identify five main factors that increase the likelihood of getting cancer:
tobacco smoking
low physical activity;
obesity
unhealthy diet;
alcohol consumption.
According to Yaroslav Stryiskyi, acting director of Drohobych City Hospital No. 3, the cancer rate in Lviv Oblast is lower than in many central and southern regions of Ukraine, because there are more industrial production and polluted areas.
Nevertheless, the number of cancer patients in our region grows by 2-2.5% annually. In the Lviv region, residents of the mountainous districts of Peremyshliany and Zhydachiv suffer from cancer the most. The rates are also high in Truskavets and Lviv.
With timely diagnosis and treatment, patients have the opportunity to recover and live a quality full life,” doctors emphasize. Therefore, it is very important to undergo all examinations on time.
In general, experts say that cancer does not choose gender and age.
For example, increased hormonal activity in women can provoke breast cancer, which is the most common female cancer. This is an estrogen-dependent cancer, and increased levels of estrogen in a woman’s body can be caused by synthetic or industrial hormones in chicken and pork, and other products. Estrogen “disturbances” can also have internal causes that depend on lifestyle.
Women are recommended to give birth and breastfeed to reduce the risk of breast cancer. Then estrogen levels are suppressed, and other protective hormones, on the contrary, become more active.
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women, especially young women. Mortality from it is in first place among women under 40.
Among men, the most common is lung and respiratory cancer. This is due to smoking, as cigarettes are the proven carcinogen No. 1.
Last year, 650 new cases of lung cancer were registered in the Lviv region, most of them in men. Men also suffer from laryngeal cancer.
Another common cancer among men is prostate cancer. It is mostly detected in the late stages and manifests itself most often after the age of 60.
Leukemia is common among children. This is due to the poorly formed immune system, which can easily malfunction. However, childhood leukemia is much easier to treat than adult leukemia, because there is no large accumulation of changes and various mutations in cancer cells. However, this requires rather aggressive drugs.
However, doctors emphasize that when talking about cancer, it should always be understood that timely examination can save you from death.
Where in Drohobych can I get a thorough cancer screening?
In the city of Kotermak, a wide range of examinations can be done at the Drohobych Interdistrict Screening Center, which operates on the basis of the Drohobych City Hospital No. 3.
The facility is equipped with diagnostic and medical equipment: a mammograph, colposcope, microscopes, and an ultrasound machine.
There is also an X-ray therapy room where skin and lip cancer is treated. Dermatoscopic examination of pigmented skin tumors has been introduced.
There is an endoscopy room for fibrogastro- and fibrocolonoscopies (examination of the stomach and intestines). This year, the endoscopy room was equipped with the necessary electrosurgical equipment to remove gastrointestinal tumors. It is planned to introduce an argon “scalpel” that will allow for minimally traumatic surgical interventions. The hospital will be able to perform fluoroscopy and graphy of the stomach and large intestine (irrigoscopy).
In 2023, the doctors of Drohobych City Hospital No. 3, including the screening center, detected 403 primary cancer cases, of which 74% of patients received special treatment. Only 80 cases of cancer were detected in the 1st (last) stage. Last year, 127 people died of cancer. The cancer detection rate during cancer screenings is 19.3%. In the inpatient department of Drohobych City Hospital No. 3, 241 patients were operated on, with no postoperative mortality from complications.
Last year, the Drohobych Interdistrict Screening Center performed mammography for 3321 women. Cytologically, 9333 women were examined.
Online registration for diagnostic and treatment procedures is available by phone (03244) 2-17-95, 0672670024.
All diagnostic procedures are provided free of charge under the State Guarantee Program with an electronic referral.
The address of the institution is 67 Truskavetska Street, Drohobych.
Source.