Address at the Curie Centre of Oncology

ADDRESS

I am delighted participate in the dedication ceremony of the Stereotactic Radiosurgery Unit of Curie Centre of Oncology to the nation. Today I find the uniqueness of the facility established in this centre like Stereotactic Radiosurgery which is precise and capable of dealing with irregularly shaped tumors successfully. My greetings to Dr. Ajai Kumar, Dr.G Kilara, Dr. Brindha Sitaram and their team for creating such a state-of-the-art pain relieving facility for cancer patients.

Insights in to Life

Cancer, unlike many other diseases that come from the external factors, like infections, life styles and other environmental and physiological stressors, emanate from within the cell. The life software embedded in the DNA material gets mutated and start growing in a way that is not in-line with the cells around. Life turns against itself. The disease becomes unfathomable when it happens too early.

Sometime back, I met one gentleman whose 6-year-old grand child was on periodic blood transfusion for thalsymia. The permanent solution, doctors told me was a bone marrow transplant. The bone marrow of the child was not matching even between siblings and the parents. Unmatched bone marrow transplant is not done in India, I was told, and even in the West it is being done experimentally. I met the child who is unaware of the time bomb that is ticking inside him. I prayed for him, for this was the only thing I could do. Today, standing before this gathering of cancer experts, I think I must share with you my concern for these and other patients who live under the shadow of uncertain life. What can we do to strengthen the doctors' capabilities in such a situation? In India, there are less than 100 beds for B.M.T. This has to be increased in multiple hospitals and also Stem Cell is the live source for bone marrow production. It is indeed only in research phase.

Stem Cell Research

Newer knowledge emerging out of research on stem cells from abroad and India has to be taken note of and studied. In fact, regenerative medicine is fast getting established as a complete branch of medical science. The embryo starts out as a mass of undifferentiated cells, which then divide, multiply and go down differential paths to take the shape of various tissues and organs of the body. The mechanisms that underline this orderly process of differentiation is fast getting understood at the laboratory level. And the state-of-the-art in this area holds the promise of regenerating tissue that malfunctions due to injury, age, disease or genetic abnormality. A Japanese team has successfully created stem cells from the embryonic cells from the mice to create cells that secrete insulin and glucagon, two hormones normally made by the pancreas. Whether large volumes of cells can be produced from stem cells is yet to be seen. I hope that the day is not far when the similar six year old boy I met, will get a tailor-made bone marrow out of stem cells to survive for the next sixty years and beyond. For such a mission, BMT and Stem Cell production are vital. Research for Stem Cells and development of BMT are important needs. This hospital can be an interface to take benefit of research to the patient.

A New Approach

Cancer treatment needs new mindset. I would like to share a vision of "Patients deserve the best" here. I will organize my thoughts into four areas and can lead to a road map of a collaborative work between different clinical experts, medical and other research institutions, industries, and other organizations. There is a need to create cancer awareness and taking cancer diagnostics to detect cancers in the early stage. The therapeutic procedures need to be made affordable and accessible thereby minimising travel of patients for treatment and follow-up. A clinical database network can be established to effectively tackle the cancer with a long term prevention-rehabilitation perspective. Finally, focused efforts are needed to derive practical clinical applications from the findings of the Human Genome Project.

Futuristic goal can be set among cancer hospitals and research institutions. Diagnostic and treatment results need to be discussed and analyzed. Diagnostic accuracy, response to treatment, cure results needs to be discussed among similar cancer cure institutions. Then the national capability of cancer cure will enhance. Citizens will be thankful to the healers.

Optimisation of Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy often destroys healthy cells together with the intended cancerous ones. An industrial firm in our country has developed algorithms describing interaction between normal cells, malignant cells and nutrients. The algorithms also take into account the pharmaco-kinetics of the drug. Together with inputs on patients' age, height and weight and the type and volume of the tumour, the mathematical model can design an optimal drug schedule minimising side effects. The type and volume of tumour can be automatically deduced from the CT or MRI scans. This is a good example of how advances in many disciplines of science such as Biomedical engineering, Image processing, control systems, mathematical modelling and pharmacology are helping in the developing better and effective treatment for cancer patients.

Conclusion

We need an active connectivity of general practitioners with this Centre to make a major impact in terms of reaching the needy as well as helping them out. The mission of offering the best available patient care, the most sophisticated education to physicians and patients and be the leader in the cancer research is indeed very challenging demanding highest of the human capabilities in intelligence as well as efforts and perseverance. The Centre needs to integrate itself with other Institutions and with the clinicians of this region. The efforts of this Centre must create knowledge that is something new and worthwhile in the world in a decade's time. Cancer cure and cancer research are indeed twin challenges to the medico and health community. I am happy to note that the Curie Centre offers detection, diagnostics, treatment, palliative care services under one roof including a faith healing center for cancer care. Challenge transforms into mission of pain removal and thereby providing useful life that is close to the God. This is what is the secret of winning the game of cancer.

May God bless you.