Vietnam has one of the highest lung cancer rates in Southeast Asia, following East Asia, with mortality rates reaching 15-20 per 100,000 people, said Dr. Duong Duc Hung, director of Viet Duc University Hospital.
Dr. Hung gave the figure at a lung cancer diagnosis and treatment workshop on January 10.
Associate Professor Dr. Dao Van Tu, head of the On-Demand Treatment Department at the National Cancer Hospital, noted that Vietnam has a low rate of early-stage lung cancer diagnoses eligible for surgical removal.
He suggested that the treatment strategy for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer should focus on optimizing the benefits of combining surgery with systemic therapy.
Statistics from the global cancer organization Globocan showed that nearly 25,000 new cases and 22,500 deaths from lung cancer are recorded annually in Vietnam, making it the second most common cancer after liver cancer. Alarmingly, only 25%-30% of cases are detected early and treated promptly. (Suc Khoe Doi Song)