Children's Cancer Is Often Late In Detection, Understand The Causes And Solutions

Illustration of children with cancer (Pexels)

JAKARTA - The risk of cancer in children is often only detected when they reach advanced stages, making the treatment process more difficult and their success rate decreases. Not a few cases of child cancer were found in the final stages, which made healing efforts more challenging.

Chairman of the UKK Hemato Oncology Association of Indonesian Pediatricians (IDAI), dr. Eddy Supriyadi, Sp.A(K), Ph.D, revealed that early detection of cancer in children is important for parents to pay attention to.

"In Indonesia, many cases of cancer in children have just been detected in advanced stages. If we divide the cancer stage into four stages, most of the cases were found in stages 3 and 4," said dr. Eddy, as quoted by ANTARA.

He explained that blood cancer is often difficult to detect from an early age because the symptoms are not immediately visible. Children who look healthy can suddenly show symptoms when cancer has developed to a further stage. This condition makes parents less aware of any changes in their children.

Symptoms of fire are usually only realized when they are severe enough, such as pale, muscle pain, bleeding, and prolonged fever for weeks. Generally, children are only taken to the hospital when these symptoms are getting clearer.

On the other hand, solid tumor cancer is more likely to be detected early through physical examination. Some types of cancer such as retinoblastoma or tumors in the stomach can be observed through lumps or other physical changes.

If cancer such as retinoblastoma can be found in the early stages, the cure rate could reach more than 95 percent, added dr. Eddy.

Meanwhile, Professor of Children's Health Sciences from Airlangga University, Prof. Dr. dr. I Dewa Gede Ugrasena, Sp.A(K), explained that children with cancer generally respond better to chemotherapy than adult patients.

In adult patients, the effectiveness of immunotherapy is often uncertain because their bodies have long been exposed to carcinogenic substances due to lifestyle or environmental factors. This makes cancer cells more difficult to destroy.

"In chemotherapy therapy for children, we always consider its long-term impact. Side effects can affect child growth and development, so that the approach of therapy for children and adults is very different," explained Prof. Ugrasena.