About 80 percent of people with liver cancer had hepatitis B or C, but about 30 percent of them do not receive follow-up treatment, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday, urging people not to leave chronic hepatitis untreated.
Cancer registration data from 2018 showed that liver cancer ranked fourth in the nation’s 10 most common types of cancer and data for last year showed it was the second most common cause of cancer deaths, claiming 7,773 lives.
Viral hepatitis is the largest risk factor for liver cancer worldwide, the HPA said.
Photo: CNA
However, based on a health-risk behavior survey that the agency conducted in 2018, about 30 percent of people diagnosed with hepatitis B or C did not seek follow-up treatment, it said.
Among those who were untreated, about 60 percent said they felt healthy and did not have symptoms, about 20 percent said they did not know they needed to seek treatment and about 10 percent said they did not have time for treatment, it said.
People diagnosed with hepatitis B or C should make regular follow-up visits to gastroenterologists and hepatologists, and follow prescriptions to reduce the risk of developing chronic liver diseases, cirrhosis and liver cancer, the HPA said.
People aged 45 to 79 and Aborigines aged 40 to 79 are eligible for a one-time government-funded screening for hepatitis B and C, the agency said, adding that it offers subsidies for follow-up treatment.
Aside from viral hepatitis, fatty liver disease can also increase the risk of liver cancer, the HPA said.
The risk factors of fatty liver disease include obesity, eating food high in fat, hyperlipidemia, excessive alcohol use, poorly controlled diabetes and lack of exercise, it said, adding that the disease can be improved by losing weight, maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) yesterday authorized the execution of convicted murderer Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), the first death row prisoner to be put to death since President William Lai (賴清德) took office. Huang was to be executed via a firing squad yesterday evening, which would leave Taiwan with 36 convicts on death row. Huang on Oct. 1, 2013, broke into his ex-girlfriend Wang Ping-chih’s (王品智) residence in New Taipei City, where he raped and murdered Wang. He also killed Wang’s mother. Huang was bitter over the breakup and her accusation that he had stolen NT$200,000 (US$6,074) from her bank account, prosecutors said
RSS