Around 42 child cancer cases in Cyprus every year (Update)

An average of 42 cancer diagnoses every year are detected in people under 19 in Cyprus, according to the director of the paediatric oncology-haematology clinic of Makarios hospital in Nicosia Loizos Loizou.

“Most recent cases involved acute leukaemia, brain tumours, lymphomas, sarcomas, bone, kidney, liver and various other organ tumours,” Loizou told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) on Friday.

“However, cancer prevention in children is limited, and key treatments are aimed at adults,” he added.

Early diagnosis and proper treatment help cure most children as the cure rate of children from cancer and leukaemia is more than 80 per cent in developed countries, according to Loizou.

“A large team of doctors, nurses and many other specialists at the clinic are by the children’s side to comfort them, guide them, advise them with the best care that can be offered today,” he said.

Specialised psychological and social approaches to young patients and their families is crucial during treatment, he said, as “for a parent to hear that their child has leukaemia or some type of cancer is one of the worst experiences one can go through.”

He said that cancer and leukaemia is the second most common cause of death among children in Cyprus and causes more deaths among children than any other disease. He added that it is not known what causes cancer in children and that heredity is only to blame for five per cent to ten per cent of cases.

He added that cancers in children are different than those which affect adults and that therefore treatment in the way in which it should be dealt is different.