Breast cancer has been increasing throughout the country, mainly in the capital city of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, with there predicted to be 25,000 new cases reported every year by 2020.

The figure was released at an annual conference on cancer prevention held in HCM City on December 15 with the involvement of over 1,000 delegates from 118 medical facilities across the country.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (Globocon 2008) estimated Vietnam now has 111,500 new cancer incidences and 82,000 mortalities.

Lung, liver and rectum cancers are mainly diagnosed in males while breast and cervical cancers are prevalently seen in women. In most cases the disease evolves more quickly as the patients are over 40 years of age.

The country’s treatment of cancer has so far experienced optimistic results thanks to advanced equipment and new chemotherapies applied in a number of specialised hospitals such as Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, Hanoi K Hospital and Hue Central Hospital.

In recent years, the government has constructed more hospitals scattered across the country including Da Nang Cancer Hospital and Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital No.2, among others.

Cancer is the number one killer, said Le Hoang Minh, director of the City Oncology Hospital, adding the incidence of cancer at his hospital rises by 10 percent annually. In 2013 alone, it received more than 20,000 cases.

The conference is believed to create room for doctors, experts and scientists to suggest new therapies and exchange precious experience in cancer treatment.

The previous event also mentioned advances in cancer treatment, safety in chemotherapy, disease prevalence and newly invented cancer-proof drugs.-VNA