Many patients in the country still receive chemotherapy and radiation therapy separately while new studies conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) have shown combining the treatments can improve outcomes, said Dr Mahdi Sobhani, a board member of Iran’s Radiation Oncology Association, on the sidelines of the 11th annual congress of the association held on Wednesday in Tehran.
“The average survival rate for all cancer patients in the world is 66% but the figure is only 30 to 35% in Iran,” IRNA quoted him as saying.
He added that cancer has high cure rates when detected early, but unfortunately many Iranians are not aware of the early signs and symptoms of cancers.
As an example, based on a recent survey, only 5% to 6% of all Iranian women have adequate information on the symptoms and risk factors of breast cancer.
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