Cancer: You can treat it if you detect on time

The word cancer carries a whole host of fearful connotations, specially now, when the disease has almost become something of a fact of life. Thousands fall prey to this deadly disease due to lack of treatment and in many cases, delayed diagnosis.

The alarming rise in the number of people suffering from cancer made retired Professor Merrille Perera write a book to share his knowledge on how to prevent, detect and treat cancer. Prof. Perera counts 45 years of experience as a doctor and Professor of Pathology.

Pathology is a broad and complex field which seeks to understand the mechanisms of injury to cells and tissues, as well as the body's means of responding to and repairing injury. Disease processes may be incited or exacerbated by a variety of external and internal influences, including trauma, infection, poisoning, loss of blood flow, autoimmunity, inherited or acquired genetic damage, or errors of development.

In his new book titled “The Scourge of Cancer”, Prof. Perera highlights the key facts related to cancer in a simple and interesting format with practical tips on diet and lifestyle, which will help the individual prevent the onset of cancer. There are many ways of preventing cancer, but the public have little knowledge of how to stay healthy and avoid carcinogens such as tobacco smoke, the sun, natural and man-made radiation and work-place hazards.

“Life is fast-paced now, and increasing numbers of people live unhealthy lives with absolutely no comprehension of the danger they put themselves in,” says Prof. Perera. Launched in November, “The Scourge of Cancer” is a 114-page volume filled with a great deal of useful facts about cancer, diagrams related to the detection and, where possible, the cure of cancer. “My objective in writing this book is to alert people so that they will be able to detect and treat cancer early,” the author explains.

In contrast to books which deal with the same subject, “The Scourge of Cancer” is targetted at the layman. Accordingly, the facts have been presented in detail, but with significantly less medical jargon of which the patient usually has no comprehension.

The book offers hope that if detected early, cancer can be successfully treated, with maximum possible results. Thus the purpose of the book is to have people understand the nature of cancer better. With understanding comes a clearer view of how to avoid carcinogens both in terms of diet and lifestyle. The book also provides tips on how to identify certain types of cancer in the earliest stages.

The causes of cancer are many and varied. “Sometimes, a headache or a persistent cough could be one of the symptomsof the beginning of a cancer,”explains Professor Perera. “But this is not often the case. People just need to be vigilant and alert to any changes that take place.

“If the patient can identify more than one or two common indicators of cancer, he needs to be careful and consult a doctor as soon as possible.”Identifying symptoms and knowing their causes is one of the main focuses of the book. It comes in two parts; the first analysing the nature of cancer and giving a general description of the most common triggers of the disease, the behaviour and spread of tumours, investigative procedures, symptomatology and cancer cell genetics.

The second part provides a more in depth analysis of the various forms of cancer- methods of prevention, identification and the treatment on offer.