Ammon News - King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) Director General Asem Mansour on Saturday opened the first conference on cancer research, organized by the center.

The three-day conference hosts top doctors and researchers from various countries and neighboring Arab states as well as Jordanian universities and research institutions.

Mansour, who chaired the conference, said in opening remarks that cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and it poses a huge burden on both developed and developing countries, noting the importance of cancer research "to improve our tools and knowledge in diagnosing and treating the disease and better understanding it and designing the right and effective treatments."

The conference is primarily to encourage researchers in Jordan and the region to keep pace with developments in cancer research in the world, he pointed out.

Participants presented 268 research papers on a host of topics, including breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, reproductive cancer, pediatric cancer as well as research in nursing, pharmacology, quality of life, palliative medicine, the nervous system and other cancer-related research.

Mansour told the conference that the total number of new cancer cases in Jordan was 9,248, including 7,094 among Jordanians, of which 3,333 males and 3,761 females.