Mohammad Reza Qavam Nasiri made the statement at a news conference on Thursday to elaborate on the upcoming 9th Annual Clinical Oncology Congress in Tehran. He added that skin, prostate and stomach cancer are more prevalent among men while breast cancer afflicts more women than any other cancer in Iran, according to Saturday's edition of 'Iran Daily'

Leukemia, he added, ranks first among cancers affecting children. The leading causes of the disease can be attributed to lead in petroleum, particulate matters, air pollution and cell phone radiation

Cancer, he said, takes about 30,000 lives in the country each year whereas, based on global figures, the number of people suffering from cancer will stand at around 20 million people by 2020. “The number of people with tumor is also increasing worldwide”

Pointing to the 9th Annual Clinical Oncology Congress, he said the three-day event will be held from October 8 to 10, 2014 in Tehran and will be attended by lecturers from Austria, France and Germany

“Improving the knowledge of the doctors in field of diagnosis and treatment of different types of cancers and promoting the public awareness about prevention and treatment process of the disease are among the main objectives of the congress,” he added. Those involved in the fields of oncology, pathology, digestion, surgery, urology, radiology and hematology can also benefit from the congress

Samira Azqandi, the executive secretary of the event, said that the first day of the three-day congress will deal with cancers of reproductive and urinary system, including prostate cancer

On the second day, cancers of digestive system, for instance gastric cancer and colon cancer, will be studied, she added. “Breast cancer is the main topic of discussion on the last day of the event

Until now, the congress secretariat has received about 80 articles from Iranian and foreign specialists, she noted. “Researchers can send their articles to the secretariat up to September 21, 2014

Bahram Mofid, the scientific secretary of the congress, added that by implementing the Health System Reform Plan, cancer patients will pay just 10-20 percent of treatment costs, while before the execution of the plan, patients had to bear most of the costs of the treatment

According to the plan, cancer patients can obtain their medicines from medical services and they will not need to seek the medicines elsewhere, he noted

Hossein Foulazi, a member of the ISRO, said global data shows that by 2020, cancer will be the leading cause of death, however, about 60 percent of the cancers can be prevented

Given the importance of screening, he added that breast cancer screening can be effective in reducing the rate of the disease-related deaths, so all women over the 40 have to undergo examination process annually or biennially

Date: 13/09/2014

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