Q: Which doctors treat heart cancer?
A: Heart cancer may be treated by a cardiac surgeon along with an oncologist.
Q: What does it mean when they say five-year survival rate?
A: Five-year survival is a benchmark set by physicians to understand the prognosis in a standardized manner globally. It simply means persons surviving more than five years after first diagnosis of their cancer. It is usually assessed for estimating the prognosis of the disease. It can vary amongst the different types of cancer.
Q: How do one Prevent Heart Cancer?
A: Since the exact cause of primary heart cancers is not known, it is difficult to prevent them. However, we can reduce the risk of secondary heart cancers by avoiding the exposure to things that cause cancer. Stop smoking or use of tobacco products, excessive exposure to sun or radiation and other factors which can stimulate growth of cancer cells.
Regular screenings for cancer should be done such as mammogram for breast cancer, PAP smears for cervical cancer and colonoscopy for colon cancer. The earlier a tumor is detected, the better is the outcome.
