This is the key question cancer treatment, care and management experts frequently ask as the disease continues to devastate families.

It also formed the centre of debate on Wednesday evening during the unveiling of a technology called Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), the latest by the Aga Khan University

Hospital (AKUH) at a Nairobi hotel.
According to the specialists, even before the debate on where to access and deploy cutting-edge technology that will help answer some of the important questions, it is critical that people adopt early screening as a routine.

Dr Allan Njau, a pathologist at the AKUH is specific about screening, stating that it actually offers the best return on investment when it comes to cancer treatment.

“The treatment is shorter, cheaper, and it offers the patient the best chance of survival and high quality of life,” Dr Njau said.

While Dr Njau and his peers spend a lot of time sending samples abroad for screening, and patients having to wait longer for the results, he feels that localising the NGS will help answer many questions.

And so, this technology, he believes, will help them to answer some of the important questions.

Prof Shahin Sayed, a consultant at the Department of Pathology, AKUH and Dr Manel Haj Mansour described the technology as precise, versatile and enhances quick turn-around time in the diagnosis, care and management of cancer patients.  

“The NGS is a versatile technology that allows us to assess genes in our bodies, whether they are tumour genes or our normal cell genes,” Prof Sayed said, further explaining that the machine enhances therapeutic approach to patients.

Precision medicine allows healthcare providers to predict which prevention strategies and treatments will work with which groups of people, offers targeted sequencing, and also checks sensitivity and resistance to treatment.

However, as Dr Njau insists, screening remains key to cancer care.