Cancer rates on the rise(2)

People wear masks on a smoggy morning in Langfang, Hebei province. Air pollution is now a big concern with the increasing rate of lung cancer. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Li cites an example of a new tough case. A man in 40s from Hebei province was treated as a pneumonia patient over the past two years at a top hospital in Beijing, for reoccurring chest pain and low fever. He was finally diagnosed with lung cancer in the same hospital in late March, but was then discharged because the doctor considered it was too late to treat the cancer.

"Misdiagnosis happens a lot, because one cancer case differs from another, and it relies heavily on the doctor's experience and imaging technology to make an accurate judgment," Li says.

Nie Haiying, 59, a resident in a village in Yanqing county, Beijing, knows well how hospitals' treatment capacity can differ, especially between rural and urban facilities.

In late January, Nie coughed blood and fainted. He was rushed to a local county - level hospital and had a CT scan.

The doctor said the result showed there was something unusual with his lungs and kidneys, but he could not tell what it was.

Nie then went to an emergency department in a big hospital in the city.

"As soon as I showed the doctor the X-rays, she concluded I had tumors," Nie recalls.

Later, he was confirmed to have cancer tissues in his right lung and a kidney. In March, Nie underwent a lung cancer operation in Li's hospital. The operation was successful, and Nie feels much better now.

But not everyone is as lucky.

Ma Hongbing, a tumor doctor with Ankang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Ankang, Shaanxi province, says most of his patients are already late-stage cancer patients when they get the diagnosis, which gives them a very dim hope of survival.

Lung, liver, stomach, esophageal and colorectal cancers are most common in the area, and many patients are under 40 - the youngest patient he treated was an 8-year-old suffering from brain cancer, while the youngest liver cancer patient he met was only 22.

He attributes the rising cancer rates to pollution, work pressure and unhealthy diets - particularly among young people. He also says people in rural areas don't have the awareness or access to undergo regular medical checkups, which may partially explain why many cancer patients are diagnosed at very late stages.

Zhang, the oncologist in Beijing, agrees.

Regular medical checkups are important for early detection. It has become a routine in cities that employers provide regular body checkups for employees. But in rural areas, the services lag behind the needs, he says.

The Chinese government has been providing free scanning for women in some places, and also does a great job in hepatitis B control, which reduces liver-cancer incidence, but more needs to be done, Zhang adds.

Individuals should adopt healthy life-styles, while the government should make efforts to control pollution and provide quality medical care to everyone, Zhang notes.

The WHO says at least one-third of cancer cases can be avoided. Zhang believes traditional Chinese medicine can provide an alternative in treating and preventing cancer.

Zhang says TCM can reduce cancer patients' suffering while they receive radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and can increase patients' life expectancy. More importantly, TCM is a framework for a healthy lifestyle and can work as a preventative measure.

"Cancer is not as life-threatening as people think, as long as it is detected early," Zhang says. "Society should work together to achieve that."