Daud Olatunji
A clinical oncologist and Chief Executive Officer of Pearl Oncology Specialist Hospital, Dr Omolola Salako, has warned Nigerians that tobacco contains more than 3,000 chemicals capable of triggering cancer, urging citizens to take prevention and early detection seriously.
Salako raised the alarm over what she described as the growing incidence of cancer among young Nigerians, saying oncologists were increasingly seeing patients aged between 18 and 39 with cancers that were difficult to predict and often detected late.
She spoke during an interview on Sunday.
According to the oncologist, the emergence of cancer among young adults presents a major challenge because many of them are below the age at which routine cancer screening is generally recommended.
“And for young cancers, that’s another thing we’re seeing in oncology. There are young people between the ages of 18 and 39 that are developing cancers and these cancers are unpredictable, too young to recommend cancer screening in the first place,” she said.
Salako identified tobacco use as one of the major preventable cancer risks, warning that exposure was not limited to smokers.
“Smoking contains tobacco. And in tobacco, there are more than 3,000 chemicals that are known to trigger cancer or start cancer,” she said.
She added that people who stayed around smokers were also exposed to health risks, stressing that cancer prevention should begin with reducing exposure to known risk factors.
“Whether you’re smoking it or you’re leaving or hanging around the person who’s smoking, all of that are risk factors,” she said.
The oncologist also raised concerns about tobacco-containing products, including electronic cigarettes, while cautioning against the assumption that alternative substances were automatically safer.
She said cancer control should focus on prevention, early detection and appropriate treatment, urging Nigerians to make greater use of primary healthcare facilities for preventive services.
Salako noted that about 40 per cent of cancers were preventable and encouraged Nigerians to take advantage of vaccination and other preventive interventions, including vaccination against hepatitis B and human papillomavirus.
“And 40 per cent of cancers are preventable. So it’s important women and men are presented at the primary healthcare levels to get screened, get vaccinated against hepatitis B virus, human papillomavirus,” she said.
She said early detection remained critical because although some cancers could not be prevented, they could be identified and treated before they became advanced.
According to her, cancers such as breast and prostate cancers could benefit significantly from early detection, but the underutilisation of available health services remained a challenge.
She therefore called for stronger public education to encourage Nigerians to seek medical attention when symptoms persisted.
The oncologist further warned that the high cost of cancer treatment was forcing some patients to abandon treatment despite presenting at hospitals at relatively early stages.
She said cancer treatment could cost between N10m and N60m, depending on the type of cancer and treatment required.
“Where treatment is costing anywhere from N10m to N15m to N60m, in reality, many cancer patients are presenting to the hospital early, but they are dropping out of treatment,” Salako said.
She explained that cancer treatment involved several modalities, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy and hormone therapy.
Although health insurance was available, she said only a small proportion of Nigerians were adequately covered, while limitations on cancer-care funding continued to pose serious challenges.
Salako advised Nigerians to prioritise annual medical check-ups and seek specialist attention when symptoms failed to disappear.
“As Nigerians, we should focus on our annual medical check-up. That would be the first thing for every age and every gender,” she said.
She also recommended age-appropriate screening, including Pap smear screening for women from age 21, while urging Nigerians to follow medical advice on breast, prostate and colorectal cancer screening.
The oncologist said persistent or recurring symptoms should not be ignored, advising patients to seek a second medical opinion where initial treatment failed to resolve the problem.
“The second thing is when a symptom persists, present to the hospital. If you are not satisfied with the resolution of the symptom, or the symptom continues, it comes, it goes, it’s persistent, then seek a second opinion,” she said.
Salako stressed that early presentation could make a major difference in treatment outcomes.
“The goal is to cure it. We can cure it when it’s potentially curable at stage one and stage two,” she said.
She, however, explained that a diagnosis of stage-four cancer did not automatically mean that treatment was impossible, saying outcomes depended on where the cancer had spread and the general condition of the patient.
According to her, cancers that spread to vital organs such as the brain, liver and lungs could become life-threatening because of the functions performed by those organs.
She said some patients with advanced cancers could still receive treatment if their organs remained strong enough to tolerate the required therapies.
Salako also identified a strong family history of cancer as a warning sign, advising people from families with multiple cancer cases to consult specialists and consider appropriate genetic testing.
She said such assessments could help identify people at increased risk and enable doctors to detect some diseases at very early stages, including pre-cancerous conditions.
The oncologist further identified chronic inflammation as a common pathway through which several cancer risk factors could affect the body.
She warned that younger adults were increasingly being diagnosed with cancers such as colon cancer, partly because cancer was often not considered when young people developed symptoms.
According to her, this could contribute to delayed diagnosis and treatment among younger patients.
She also warned against prolonged exposure to harmful ultraviolet radiation, particularly among people with low levels of melanin, including people with albinism, noting that excessive exposure could cause skin damage.
Salako urged Nigerians to take persistent symptoms seriously and make preventive healthcare a priority, stressing that early action remained one of the most important tools in the fight against cancer.
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