Cancer survival rates 'have doubled'

Survival rates from cancer have doubled in the last 30 years, according to new figures.

Statistics released by Cancer Research UK show that on average, a patient with cancer now has a 46.2 per cent chance of being alive ten years after diagnosis compared with 23.6 per cent 30 years ago.

While survival rates vary widely between different types of cancer, the overall five-year survival rate is now 49.6 per cent for patients diagnosed with cancer in England and Wales between 2000 and 2001.

The figures showed that the sharpest rise in overall cancer survival rates between 1971 and 2001 has happened in the last ten years.

During that period, the combined cancer survival rate rose from 35.4 per cent to 46.2 per cent.

The charity said improvements in the management of cancer over the last three decades had led to significantly better survival rates.

Early detection of cancer, greater use of specialist surgery, screening programmes to detect cancer at an earlier stage and advances in chemotherapy and radiotherapy have all helped to bump up rates.

Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said there was a lot to celebrate in the new figures.

He said: "We really are here to celebrate the success that has been achieved over the last 30 years with survival rates improving really quite dramatically. But the other key message is that we have a lot further to go."

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