Monday, May 02, 2022 | 5:00 a.m.
The Missionary Cancer Institute (IMC) has been a reality in the province for several years. It works on the Parque de la Salud property and works in coordination with the Ramón Madariaga Teaching Hospital. Faced with the high demand, the IMC is looking for more training in human resource management, for which its director, Ángel D’Annunzio, has set the goal of the World Oncology Meeting that will take place in Chicago, United States, between 3 and June 7.
One figure is enough to reflect the scenario in the province: every month, an average of 80 new cancer patients are diagnosed.
“The institute is monopolizing oncology in Misiones. In 2015 we had 211 new patients and in 2021 we had 1,054, that means that we have about 80 new cancer patients per month, added to thousands of patients in control from other years, “he said in dialogue with El Territorio D’Annunzio.
“Half of our work is gynecological cancer. That is, of that 50%, we have approximately ten cervical cancers and ten breast cancers. The cervix media is advanced”, pointed out the specialist to which he added: “The others are prostate, lung and colon”.
It can be inferred that the cervical tumor is directly related to the low rates of vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV, or HPV for its acronym in English). Days ago from the Ministry of Public Health of Misiones they had revealed that adolescents were the most reluctant to be vaccinated, that is, they registered low numbers of the HPV vaccine that precisely prevents cervical cancer. The HPV vaccine is in the Mandatory Vaccination Calendar, it must be applied at 11 years of age in two doses, both in girls and boys.
According to official statistics, during six years of follow-up and registration in the IMC, 800 cases of breast cancer and 1,100 non-mammary gynecological tumors were treated.
“This means that the oncological disease prevails in women; breast, cervical and ovarian cancer, are the ones that dominate the statistics, ”she asserted.
Asked about the medical coverage of patients, D’Annunzio pointed out that they are attended from those who have the most expensive social insurance to those who do not have social insurance. “It is universal care, that is the challenge. And we don’t give shifts in two months, we are giving shifts in fifteen days the first time. We want to maintain good, fast care, but we are juggling.”
“We have a hotbed, but we have to build the circuits so that people stay here to work. It is a challenge to sustain economically. The patients want to be treated here and the doctors who want to attend in the private part cannot because of the patients’ choice. So, you have to attend to that trend,” she commented.
mortality figures
According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), global cancer diagnoses are projected to rise to some 30 million new cases by 2040, with the greatest growth occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Along these lines, Argentina and Misiones are not exempt from the figures and cancer is registered as the second cause of death of the missionary population, only surpassed by diseases of the circulatory system.
Although the prevalence of diagnosed and treated cases is concentrated in women, mortality is higher in the male population judging by the numbers.
The main causes of cancer mortality in the province continue to be due to tumors in the respiratory tract (trachea, bronchi and lung). This is followed by breast, prostate, uterine and colorectal tumors. According to the latest data from 2020, in that period 1,482 deaths were recorded in Misiones due to malignant tumors.
The numbers were processed by the Programming and Planning Directorate of the Ministry of Public Health and show that 51.89% of that total are men and the remaining percentage are women. Its crude mortality rate is 117 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
In figures
500% The detection and diagnosis of cancer patients increased between 2015 and 2021, when there were 211 and 1,054 new cases, respectively.
–
