The family of a 12-year-old child had long mistaken his repeated diarrhea and stomach pains as irritable bowel syndrome, until an endoscopy showed that he had neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), the Hope Foundation for Cancer Care said yesterday.
The diagnosis made the child the youngest patient in the nation ever to develop the rare form of tumor that also afflicted late Apple founder Steve Jobs, the foundation told a press conference in Taipei to raise awareness for the disease ahead of NET Awareness Day on Monday.
NETs mostly occur in the digestive tract, the pancreas and the lungs, with common symptoms including recurrent diarrhea, peptic ulcer diseases and intermittent low blood sugar levels, the foundation said.
Photo: Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
However, as the disease may be asymptomatic in some patients, people displaying any suspicious symptoms are advised to undergo an advanced health examination to seek an early diagnosis, the foundation said.
Citing statistics compiled by the National Health Research Institutes last year, Digestive Endoscopy Society of Taiwan director-general Wang Hsiu-po (王秀伯) said that NETs occur at a rate of 1.51/100,000 persons a year in the nation, with about 400 new cases reported annually.
“Endoscopy can help nearly 80 percent of patients with NETs to detect the tumors before they metastasize to other parts of the body,” Wang said.
National Taiwan University Hospital’s Division of Gastroenterology physician Cheng Tsu-yao (鄭祖耀) said that in the past, most NETs were not discovered until between five and seven years after they began to develop, and more than 50 percent of such patients were diagnosed after the malignancies had spread.
“The malevolence of NETs varies depending on which organs they attack, with those growing in the pancreas and the small intestine being the most malevolent, as in the case of Jobs, whose pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor was caught at a late stage,” Cheng said.
He said people who think they may have developed the tumors can ascertain their condition via a number of measures, such as endoscopy, abdominal ultrasound, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
ANOTHER OPTION: The 13-year-old, whose residency status was revoked for holding a Chinese passport, could still apply for residency on humanitarian grounds, the government said The Executive Yuan has rejected an appeal from a 13-year-old Chinese student surnamed Lu (陸), whose permanent residency was revoked after immigration officers discovered he held a Chinese passport. Lu in December 2023 applied to settle in Taiwan to be with his mother, surnamed Lin (林), who is a Taiwan resident, an appeal decision released this month by the Executive Yuan showed. Lin settled in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese man in 2003, but the two divorced in 2011, and after marrying a Chinese man, she had Lu, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said. Lu’s application was approved in December 2024, and in
RSS