Welcome back to school! Hope everyone is enjoying their first month so far. We're honoured to yet have another collaboration with, this time the BSE Society in their week-long event - BSE Week! "Chemotherapy: How it affects the body?", hosted by two of our members - Chantelle & Jeng Xin, went absolutely well, and ended with a relatively engaging discussion where not only the scientific and business aspects were discussed, some different cultural beliefs were shared, as well. Some of the key points from our session:

How are cancer cells formed? Why is it bad?

A mutation in our DNA occurs which causes the cell to become cancerous. These cells can go through uncontrolled mitosis which could cause them to form tumours. Or even invade surrounding tissues and organs. This can create competition for nutrients against healthy or interrupt the growth and repair of new cells.

What is Chemotherapy?

A treatment where drugs are used to kill cancer cells. These drugs are ‘cytotoxic’, meaning they are harmful to both cancerous and healthy cells. It helps by stunting the reproduction of cancer cells. There are different types of chemotherapy such as Curative (completely cures cancer) and Adjuvant chemotherapy (destroys remaining cancer cells), to name a few. The drug can be injected and ingested in different ways ranging from swallowing a tablet to injecting it directly into a tumour. Some common drugs used are alkylating drugs and antimetabolites, each with their own side effects (nausea, loss of appetite or even causing damage to the heart in high doses).

Some of the side effects of Chemotherapy:

As well as killing cancer cells, normal healthy cells are being damaged at the same time during treatment. These cells might include red blood cells, white blood cells or even skin cells. Therefore a range of unpleasant side effects might occur: hair loss, fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting and even more.

Is Chemotherapy affordable?

Only 79% of patients with higher incomes are able to afford chemotherapy. Unfortunately, only 3% of low-income patients were able to afford it (through insurance or government-funded hospitals). Those with higher incomes generally have a higher survival rate. For example, high-income breast cancer patients have a survival rate of >90% whereas low-income patients have a survival rate lower than 65%.

For reference, in Malaysia, the prices can range from RM 18,000 to RM 98,000.

Discussion time!

"What do you think we could or should do to make healthcare more accessible in Malaysia?"

Some mentioned that we should start with raising more awareness and educating our population more about cancer (especially the older population) and proactively get checked for it if possible. The earlier it is detected, the higher the survival and recovery rate is, thus the better.

This brought up some comparisons to the UK healthcare system where it was compulsory and free for all citizens to get screened for cancer, which is the dream of many other countries that have limited and expensive healthcare.

Are the alternative therapies (acupuncture, yoga, etc.) equally effective as the conventional therapy (chemotherapy)?"

It varies for every person. For example, some would be able to be cured by doing yoga (but whether this is merely a placebo effect is another discussion). However, some patients won't be cured by either chemotherapy or its alternatives, even with our most advanced technology and developments in the medical field. This could be a result of the resistance developed by the cancer cells towards chemotherapy over time