Consensus Report from Oncology Advisory Board Meeting

Burden of Cancer in India The incidence of cancer is rising in India at an alarming rate. The cancer-related death rates have steadily increased over the past two decades. Currently, it stands at the 4th common cause of death in India. According to Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), India is likely to have over 17.3 lakh new cases of cancer and over 8.8 lakh deaths due to the disease by 2020, with cancers of breast, lung, and cervix topping the list. Use of Imaging with Contrast in Oncology Over the last few years, the use of imaging has increased drastically in all fields of medicine, especially in oncology. Contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) not only helps in detection of a pathologic lesion but also in its characterization (Fig. 1). The contrast-based imaging in oncology is used but not limited to: y y Staging of cancers, y y Angiography of various tumors, y y Response evaluation after therapy, y y Follow-up of cancer patients, y y Characterizing optimum site of biopsy for diagnostic purposes, y y Characterization of suspicious lesions, and y y Screening for cancers. Protecting Kidney in Cancer Patients Certain cancers carry a much higher risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) than others [1]. Kidneys have a rich blood supply (25% Oncologists' Perspective on Kidney Injury in Cancer Patients Fig. 1. Contrast-enhanced CT offers substantial benefits for detecting and characterizing pathologic lesions. Lesions may be missed when non-enhanced CT scans are performed in cancer patients. * Patient suffering from chronic liver disease was sent for a liver function test. The figures show the importance of an enhanced image because the carcinoma would have been missed without the contrast media enhancement. Images courtesy of Sapienza University of Rome *As well as increasing sensitivity for detection of pathologic lesions, contrast enhancement can improve accuracy in lesion characterization