Cancer Sufferers Live Six Times Longer

A new study of cancer survival figures by a leading cancer charity has found people now live nearly six times longer after their cancer diagnosis than was the case 40 years ago

However, the research by Macmillan Cancer Support also shows that progress has been "extremely patchy".

For 11 of the 20 cancers studied by the charity, median survival time is now predicted to be over five years. But for nine cancers, median survival time is three years or less, with little improvement since the 1970s.

Six cancers have median survival times of more than 10 years and while there have been dramatic improvements in survival for some cancers like breast, colon, and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, there is little good news for other cancers like lung, brain, or pancreatic cancer, where median survival times are still counted in weeks rather than years.

Ciarán Devane, Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "This research is a huge breakthrough in seeing the real picture of how long people are living after a cancer diagnosis.

"But the good news is tempered by the shocking variation between cancer types. Though we can celebrate increasing median survival times for some cancers such as breast and colon cancers, there has been lamentably poor progress made for lung and pancreatic cancer. It is clear that much, much more money needs to be put into research, surgery and treatment for the cancers with the poorest prognosis."

The charity said there had been great work on breast cancer treatments and this has had a clear impact on breast cancer survival but there had not been enough progress on dealing with the long-term consequences of breast cancer treatment or for lung, brain and pancreatic cancer – "we need to up our game on these," the charity said.

Research into breast cancer accounted for 20% of site-specific research funding in 2010, more than the combined spend on some of the cancers with the lowest median survival times – stomach, oesophagus, pancreas, brain and lung – which made up 13% of site-specific research finding in 2010.

(DW)