This lung cancer test can extend life to 34 months, but …

KOMPAS.com – Lung cancer is a malignant disease that occurs in lung tissue. Unfortunately, this disease is often discovered when the malignant tumor is already in an advanced stage.

According to Aryanthi Baramuli Putri, president of the Cancer Information and Help Center, lung cancer has a life expectancy reduced by 12% compared to other cancers.

To improve the quality of treatments or increase the life expectancy of people with lung cancer, it already exists personalized treatment in the form of oncogenic driving test which aims to examine the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) to detect mutations in these lung cancer cells.

Unfortunately, this method has not been extended to all health services in Indonesia. According to Dr. Alex Ginting S, Sp.P (K) of Gatot Soebroto Army Hospital, this method is only available in several hospitals such as Dharmais, Siloam, Friendship and several other major hospitals.

Read also: How do doctors determine the stages of lung cancer?

"This is an exam marker pen molecular. With this we can know what is cancer. Because we had the habit of blinded (blind) become cancer immediately after chemotherapy alone. But knowing the genes that we can treat depending on the molecule, "said Alex at a press conference commemorating the month of cancer care, Wednesday (28/11/2018), in Jakarta.

According to Alex, Dr. Evlina Suzanna, SpPA (K), of Dharmais Cancer Hospital, said that by performing EGFR and ALK tests, it would be possible to determine whether or not the cancer cells have mutated, and which chromosomes have have been damaged, which will make it easier for experts to determine the right medicine. for cancer patients.

"So, this is called personalized because the path of genetic damage in every lung cancer patient varies, "said Evlina when she was interviewed at the same time.

In addition to being limited to a few large hospitals, this method of examination has also not been supported by the Health Guarantee Agency (BPJS). In fact, this exam requires a nominal amount of rupiah that is not small.

Read also: Discover the 6 types of lung cancer treatments that can prolong life

"About 2-3.5 million rupees for an inspection," said Evlina.

Although this should only be done once, both of these constraints prevent many lung cancer patients from accessing EGFR and ALK. Alex hopes that the government will be able to pay special attention to the importance of this review.

"The development of technology is constantly evolving, but we are often late, the ALK exam can span 34 months for people with lung cancer, so the development of technology and science must to be interpreted by stakeholders and the government. There is no need to buy a drug on another continent, "said Alex.

The follow-up of cancer patients requires serious attention. According to the WHO data and the World Cancer Report 2012, lung cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the world for decades. At least two people in the world die every minute from lung cancer.