Types Of Cancer

About 3,000 new cancer cases are reported every year in Malaysia , making the No. 2 killer either road accidents. The leading cause of death by cancer is lung cancer for men and breast cancer for women.
Official statistics show that the number of cancer cases in the country has risen steadily over the years.

In 1990, there were only 26,854 reported cases in the country. Six years later, this figure increased by almost 40%, (ie to 37,294 in 1996)

The Mount Miriam Hospital in Penang-the only cancer hospital in the northern region-reported seeing 338 cancer cases in 1980 but the figure increased 2-fold to 851 cases in 1994 (Star, 8.12.95)
Cancer statistics supplied to CAP by the Ministry of Health show that for government hospitals alone, there were a total of 11,655 admissions for 8 common types of cancer (not including lung cancer) in 1996.
There are;
-    Breast cancer (3,575 cases)- 30.7% of all total admissions
-    Colon cancer (2,088 cases)- 17.9%
-    Cancer of the rectum (2,029)- 17.4%
-    Live cancer (1,475)- 12.7%
-    Stomach cancer (1,349)- 11.6%
-    Cancer of the oesophagus (713)- 6.1%
-    Cancer of the pancreas (406)- 3.5%
-    Cancer of the small intestine (20)- 0.17%

Of these 8 types of cancer, the biggest killers were breast and liver cancer (116 deaths each in 1996), followed by stomach cancer (142 cases), cancer of the recturn (99), colon cancer (94), cancer of the esophagus (71) and cancer of the pancreas(56)
These 7 cancers claimed a total of 792 lives that year. But lung cancer alone claimed 543 lives, according to the Ministry’s records.
All combined, government hospitals throughout the country recorded a total of 1,335 deaths for these 8 cancers (ie including lung cancer) in 1996
Other forms of cancer are also becoming more and more common. For example:
-    Of late, about 400-500 new cases of lymphoma (a malignant tumour of the lymphoid tissue) are reported in the country each year (Berita Minggu, 14 June 1998)
-    Nasopharyngeal carcinoma Is now ranked among the top 3 cancers in Malaysia (Sunday Mail, 31 May 1998). It is estimated that about 10% of suffers died of this cancer in 1997 (Malay Mail, 9 March 1997). It is also reported that the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic in University Kebangsaan Malaysia detected an average of 3 such cases a month, or 36 cases a year 1997
-    Some 500 children under 15 years are diagnosed with cancer each year. Of these, leukemia ranks the highest, making up 40% (Sun, 16 Oct 1997)
-    The Ministry of Health has identified oral cancer as the fifth most common cancer in the country, with between 150 and 200 cases detected annually (NST, 27 June 1997).