There is light at the end of the tunnel for breast cancer sufferers. The most common cancer in England looks like it could be in remission with new figures from Cancer Research UK revealing almost two thirds of women now diagnosed with breast cancer are likely to survive for at least 20 years.
Women aged between 50 and 69 - the age group most likely to be diagnosed with the disease - have an even better prognosis, with 72% surviving for 20 years. These figures are a vast improvement on those a decade ago when women overall had a 54% chance of surviving for 10 years and a 44% chance of surviving for 20.
High priority
Cancer survival is high on the health policy agenda, in part because international studies have indicated lower survival in the UK than in some other European populations. The report compiled by Cancer Research UK epidemiologist Professor Michel Coleman, shows we are fast catching up with France, Switzerland and the Nordic countries which have among the highest survival rates for breast cancer in Europe. Professor Coleman told the BBC, 'Overall long-term survival for women with breast cancer has improved dramatically over the last 10 years and we are seeing even better survival statistics for women in their fifties and sixties.'
He added that survival rates for younger women were also set to improve - though trends would improve less dramatically than in older age groups. In the early 1990s, women diagnosed before the age of 50 had a 60% chance of surviving for 10 years and a 50% chance of surviving for 20 years. Those survival rates are predicted to increase to 73% and 64% for women diagnosed during the first few years of this century.
Dr Sarah Rawlings, head of policy at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, commented on the research saying, 'This is great news for anyone whose life has been affected by a breast cancer diagnosis. Early detection, better awareness and improved breast cancer treatments are all to thank for these dramatic improvements. If we want to improve these survival rates even further then rapid access to diagnosis and treatment are key, but ultimately what we'd really like to see is breast cancer becoming a preventable disease.'
Prevention and cure
One in nine women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives. Most of the known risk factors for breast cancer relate to a woman's reproductive history such as early first period, late first pregnancy, low number of live-born children (parity) and late menopause. Oral contraceptive use, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), obesity and increased alcohol consumption also increase the risk. Unfortunately these are not all things we can do something about, but the fight back is evident.
In 2003-04, three quarters of women aged 50-64 invited for screening in England underwent screening for breast cancer. Over 1.4 million women are now screened for breast cancer each year, and a drug called Herceptin - once only available to those in the later stages of the diseases - is to be made available to those in the early stages from 10 October 2005 onwards.
