India News | Max Hospital Launches Clinic for Sarcoma Follow-up Patients, Survivors

New Delhi, Jul 31 (PTI) A leading private facility in Delhi on Saturday launched a clinic for follow-up patients and survivors of sarcoma, a rare type of cancer.

In a statement, the hospital claimed that the first-of-its-kind in India one-stop clinic will cater to all sarcoma patients who have finished treatment and survivors who are two years or more post-treatment.

The clinic is being run by the musculoskeletal oncology disease management group at the Max Institute of Cancer Care at the Max Super Speciality Hospital at Saket.

It will be operational in the facility's oncology OPD on last Saturday of every month, between 2-5 PM, it said.

Commemorating July as 'Sarcoma Awareness Month', the Max hospital at Saket launched the sarcoma follow-up and survivorship clinic, it said.

It will have dedicated pediatric and adult sarcoma management teams, offering facilities such as detection as well as counselling for long-term effects of sarcoma treatment. It will also cater to all sarcoma patients who have finished treatment as well sarcoma survivors who are two years or more post-treatment, the statement said.

The services offered, include surgical, medical, and radiation oncology; physical medicine; psycho-oncology; palliative care and social support, the hospital authorities said.

Dr Akshay Tiwari, director, musculoskeletal oncology, Max Institute of Cancer Care, said, "Sarcoma is a rare cancer constituting just 1 per cent of all cancers. The cancer per say is not incurable and if diagnosed in early stages, the cure rate is as high as 70-80 per cent. Sarcoma can affect either bones or soft tissues,".

While bone sarcoma is common in children and young adults with symptoms of swelling or pain; muscle or soft tissue sarcoma is generally manifested through painless swellings and more commonly occurs in adults or the elderly, he said.

"Any swelling or a lump which is five cm or more or regularly increasing in size should be promptly shown to a specialist. Our vision behind the launch of the clinic is to be able to reach out to as many sarcoma survivors as possible, the doctor said.

Designed as a multidisciplinary sarcoma unit, the idea was to streamline the follow-up for these survivors, so they don't have to go from one department to the other, the statement said.

Elaborating on the 'late effects of sarcoma', Dr Ramandeep Arora, associate Ddirector, pediatric oncology, Max Institute of Cancer Care, said, "There may be some sarcoma survivors who can be susceptible to a recurrence, so an optimal multidisciplinary follow-up will help pick in time the few who might have relapses".

Also, many sarcoma survivors across all age groups in general and children in particular may suffer the aftereffects of radiation or chemotherapy or surgery. A regular screening for these late effects is a very important part of this clinic, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)