2024-04-26 10:02:39
Doctors’ efforts to reduce recurrence rates and increase survival rates
‘Myeong’s’ ‘I’m Breaking Up with Stomach Cancer’ episode will be broadcast on EBS1TV at 9:55 pm today, the 26th (Friday).
On this day’s broadcast, we learn about the stories of people living with stomach cancer after being diagnosed with stomach cancer, their struggles to overcome stomach cancer, and their struggles to return to their daily lives after stomach cancer.
Until just a few years ago, Korea had so many stomach cancer patients that it had the title of having the world’s highest incidence of stomach cancer. However, what is important is that the stomach cancer survival rate is also the highest in the world. How did we go from being number one in the world in incidence to having the highest survival rate in the world? A gastrointestinal surgeon says the secret is, “It is because our country has a better screening system for stomach cancer than any other country in the world.”
“From the world’s highest incidence rate to the world’s highest survival rate, don’t be afraid even if it’s stomach cancer!” Efforts by surgeons to lower the recurrence rate and increase the survival rate through a systematic examination system after endoscopic procedures and resection surgeries. And the journey of patients running towards ‘life’ again, the full-fledged 5-year race towards cure of stomach cancer begins only after surgery.
Surgery to remove the entire stomach, a year later
In May 2023, a woman underwent total gastrectomy for stomach cancer at the early age of 30. She was diagnosed with a malignant tumor called signet ring cell carcinoma and was likely to have stage 2 or higher stomach cancer, but after surgery, she was fortunately finally diagnosed with stage 1 stomach cancer. And when we meet the patient again after a year, how has she been able to adapt to her life without comfort? Was she able to return to her daily life? What were the difficulties she faced because she had no stomach? Immediately after surgery, she could only eat small amounts of rice with a teaspoon. How much can she eat now? “I think it was very difficult to adapt to life without a stomach in the beginning. The patient, who defined her life for a year by saying, “Now that my stomach is completely gone, I have a strong feeling that I am having to learn how to eat all over again,” decided to see her life after total gastrectomy with her doctor.
Can stomach cancer recurrence be overcome?
After the joy of curing stomach cancer for five years, how would you feel if stomach cancer came back again? In particular, as there is a strong belief that ‘if stomach cancer recurs, you die,’ finding recurrence after cure may feel like a death sentence. However, there are people who live resolutely despite two relapses. A man in his 80s who developed gastric cancer and underwent endoscopic treatment in 2000, and then underwent endoscopic treatment again in 2016 due to recurrence of gastric cancer. He recalled that at first he did not even realize that he had cancer and was at a loss as to how to treat it, but when he underwent the second treatment, he calmly underwent the treatment with the belief that he would do well. And how was the patient able to overcome the recurrence of stomach cancer when another tumor was discovered during a recent regular check-up? Can this recurrence be safely overcome?
A journey towards ‘life’, anti-cancer treatment
One of the things stomach cancer patients fear the most is chemotherapy! Many patients become anxious after being diagnosed with stomach cancer because they think that chemotherapy will be as painful as surgery or more painful. Will I really lose my hair after undergoing chemotherapy? Is chemotherapy difficult to endure? A man in his 60s who has just completed the 7th round of chemotherapy out of a total of 8 rounds of chemotherapy after partial gastric cancer resection. ‘Chemotherapy is really boring,’ but ‘You can beat it.’ A patient who ran towards the mountain with the thought, ‘It’s nothing’, talks about the process of chemotherapy after surgery. Chemotherapy is a journey towards returning to ‘life’ and ‘daily life’. Let’s talk about how much progress has been made in the chemotherapy of stomach cancer and what the lives of patients receiving chemotherapy are like.
April 26th (Friday) 9:55 PM, EBS 1TV <명의> In the ‘I’m Saying Goodbye to Stomach Cancer’ episode, we take a look at the diagnosis of stomach cancer and the lives of patients afterward.
Photo by Reporter Park So-gi EBS 1TV <명의>
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2024-04-26 10:02:39