“Gentle with People, Precise with Cancer :Dr Annu Rajpurohit”, Consultant Medical Oncologist at Medipulse Hospital.

Vansh Kaushik (Spl.correspondent)

Jodhpur.
Cancer in young adults (15–39) is rising, with an estimated 1.3 million new cases and 377,000 deaths globally in 2022. Breast, thyroid, and cervical cancers are most common. While rare (approx. 4% of all cancers), incidence rates are increasing by ~0.3% annually (2013–2022), with significant spikes in earlyonset colorectal cancer.

Oncology, she argues, is entering “a new revolution” driven by bispecific and trispecific antibodies and T-cell engagers for solid tumours, CAR-T cells, vaccines, agents far more
refined than early immunotherapies. But she is clear-eyed: “We don’t know what will be the ideal combination… we need to wait.” The challenge now is not only about ideas but also about building a platform for the radiation-drug development. “We have so many classes of new drugs, so many possible combinations, that you need a disease-specific, rational strategy focused on unmet needs.” Academic–industry partnership, she says, is essential. We need to work together, and
convince them to explore new combinations.

The biggest myth about radiotherapy you’d like to dispel?

“That radiotherapy is more toxic than other treatments. Probably because we have the word radiation,” she says. “Even after thirty years of progress, colleagues still talk as if it’s more dangerous, when chemo or immunotherapy also have many complications. You just need to have good knowledge and clinical skills, interdisciplinary collaboration, and you can manage many side
effects and deliver radiation in a very safe way.”

There is clearly something about ultraprocessed foods that makes people eat more of them without necessarily wanting to or realizing. Until we find out why these foods are so addictive, it’s best to eat ultra-processed foods in as small amounts as possible.

“To try to be courageous in medicine and sometimes take a little bit of risk to reach the best.”

Food as Medicine- How to Improve Health through the Right Diet?

Realistic changes of diet and lifestyle may prevent most heart disease, stroke, diabetes, colon cancer,
and smoking-related cancers. Food may not exactly be medicine, but eating the right food is one of the best ways to prevent disease or slow down the effects of a disease we already have.