Bangalore: Here's a warning for Bangaloreans. The fastpaced IT city has the highest incidence of cancer cases among Indian cities, roughly 126 for every 1 lakh people

Latest figures released by the Population Based Cancer Registry put Bangalore at No.1 with 113.4 cases of cancer for every one lakh males and 139.1 for a lakh females every year. The average is 126.25, ahead of New Delhi (122.75) and Mumbai (104.75).

The statistics were released during the Afro-Asian Conference of Transitional Research in Oncology (ACTRO), which commenced in the city on Friday. The conference brought together oncologists from Asia and Africa, to discuss the need for personalized cancer care and a repository of cancer-based research in the country.

Dr B Ajaikumar, chairman HCG Cancer Hospital and President of ACTRO, said the reason for Bangalore having the highest incidence of cancer could be due to fast-changing lifestyle and genetic predominance. He also cited high awareness and better documentation as other reasons.

Experts see better research and trials to support innovative treatments for cancer as the way forward. “We always follow the West. But the fact is India has much more potential to bring about a change in treatment of cancer. Personalized medication too is the need of the hour. Also we are planning to come up with cancer registry to spread more awareness,” he said.

Dr Prahlad Ram, medical oncologist, MD Anderson Cancer Center, US, said, “One of the emerging challenges is utilization of patient-specific genomic information in order to develop personalized and targeted therapeutic options based on molecular aberrations in the tumor.