HÀ NỘI — Health experts will talk about advanced techniques and share their experience in colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment at an international symposium beginning today.

The symposium is being held at Saint Paul General Hospital’s Hà Nội High Tech and Digestive Centre.

“Colorectal cancer is a popular cancer that is usually detected in people aged 40 and above. At the moment, the rate of colorectal cancer is on the rise, with a trend of younger patients,” said Saint Paul Hospital director Prof. Nguyễn Đình Hưng.

“However, there are currently many medical methods and advanced technologies that have gained good results in detecting and treating colorectal cancer. Early diagnosis and treatment can save a patient’s life as well as reduce treatment time and expense,” he said.

The centre was the first of its kind in Hà Nội to implement early cancer-screening measures for more than 100,000 people last year, Hưng said. According to him, some 5-6 per cent of them who test positive for cancer will be put into the cancer treatment programme at the hospital.

Health experts from France, Japan, Taipei (China) and Singapore will give presentations at the two-day event as well as train Vietnamese doctors for latest methods and techniques for colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment.

“A symposium like this is a good opportunity for local doctors to share experience and transfer medical advances from international experts. With advanced techniques and existing modern medical facilities, local doctors can detect and successfully treat many digestive cancers, so that patients can be treated for cancer in Việt Nam with acceptable expenses instead of going abroad for expensive treatment,” said Prof. Trần Bình Giang, director of Việt Đức Hospital.

According to GLOBOCAN, a project of the International Agency for Research on Cancer that provides annual national-level estimates of cancer for 184 countries, Việt Nam reports more than 126,000 new cancer cases and some 94,000 cancer deaths every year. Most patients visit hospitals for cancer examination and treatment when they have already reached an advanced stage, which is both late and costly in terms of treatment. — VNS