Cancer death rate in Vietnam among world's highest

Vietnam reports about 110,000 new cases of cancer every year and over 73 percent of them die, one of the highest rates in the world, according to Mai Trong Khoa, deputy director of Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital. The number of cancer patients tends to rise and the annual death toll from cancer amounts to 82,000 on average, accounting for 73.5 percent of the total number of patients, local Tuoitre ( the Youth) news quoted Khoa as saying on Friday. Khoa made the statement at an international scientific conference on cancer prevention and control held in capital Hanoi on Thursday. Such mortality is among the highest in the world, since the world's average mortality rate of cancer patients is just 59.7 percent. In developing countries, the average death rate is 67.8 percent and in developed countries, it is much lower, only 49.4 percent, Khoa said. As reported at the conference, 15 of the most common cancers in Vietnam are lung, breast, large intestine, stomach, liver, prostate, uterus, cervix, esophagus, bladder, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, oral cavity, leukemia, pancreas, ovary and kidney. The most common cancers in men are lung, colorectal, stomach, prostate, while in women the most common are uterus and cervix. The percentage of women with cervical cancer in southern Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is six times higher than in Hanoi, while the percentage of patients with breast cancer in Hanoi is 1.5 times higher than in HCMC. Liver cancer is very common in men in HCMC while lung cancer is prevalent in Hanoi. According to Dr. Tran Van Thuan, deputy director of the hospital K and rector of the Institute of Cancer Prevention Research, cancer tends to increase, not only in Vietnam but also in many other countries in the world. At the K hospital in Hanoi, the number of cancer patients increases by 20-30 percent per year, Thuan said. Meanwhile, most of cancer patients in Vietnam do not see doctors until their conditions are in the late stages. Therefore, the cancer cure rate is low, Thuan said.