TEHRAN - The international conference on perspectives of advanced radiotherapy in middle income countries will be held in Tehran on September 26-28, IRNA reported on Monday.

The conference is organized by the Iranian Society of Clinical Oncology (ISCO) in scientific collaboration with the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), under auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which benefits from a world-class faculty in the field of radiation oncology.

“Some 90,000 Iranians are diagnosed with cancer annually,” Ahmad Ameri the secretary of the conference said. 

“Annual statistics reporting from the Iranian Cancer Association shows the death rate from cancer in Iran is 0.73 percent, while the global average is 0.58 percent and also in developed countries is less than 0.50 percent,” he added.

Stomach, lung, breast, colon and prostate constitute the five most common cancers in Iran, he highlighted, adding that, late detection is the main reason behind the high rate of cancer related deaths, while air pollution and unhealthy food consumption are also other culprits.

“The incidence of cancer in people aged 75 or younger is nearly 13 percent and the likelihood of death in patients before the age of 75, is 8 percent,” he lamented.

Radiation and surgery are the main kinds of cancer treatments, and chemotherapy and immunotherapy are also anti-cancer treatments. However, some patients need a combination of treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, he explained.

“Although radiotherapy has been greatly developed in recent years, our country has been lagging behind this technology due to outrageous sanctions”, he stated.

He went on to explain that by reducing sanctions over the past few years, we have succeeded in importing some of the radiotherapy devices into the country, but lack of proper knowledge has become a major concern for the ISCO, especially since these devices have been purchased by the private sector. Consequently, the aforesaid congress will be held to improve the knowledge needed to provide the patients appropriate treatment.

Also, since the administration of radiation is under the auspices of the IAEA, the conference was welcomed and financially supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Also, the American Medical Physics Association, the Iranian Medical Physics Association, Iran's Atomic Energy Agency and the Cancer Research Center are other scientific partners, he concluded.

In July, Ali Motlaq, head of the cancer department at the Ministry of Health, said that cancer is increased in Iran by a rate of 177 per 100,000 and 140 per 100,000 among males and females, respectively.

Moreover, Maryam Hazrati, deputy health minister for nursing, said that some 82 percent of deaths in Iran are linked with the main types of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, and was responsible for 8.8 million deaths in 2015. Approximately 70% of deaths from cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries.
FB/MG