Twice as many survive cancer for ten years

Number beating disease soars since 1970s

BRITISH cancer patients are twice as likely to live for at least ten years after diagnosis than the 1970s, research shows.

In 1972 only 24 per cent of patients lived for ten years – the point from which experts say they are effectively cured.

Of cancer patients diagnosed in 2011, however, 50 per cent are expected to live for at least ten years.

A report by the Macmillan charity says there are at least 170,000 patients alive today who were first told they had the disease 30 or 40 years ago. It points out that where cancer was once considered a ‘death sentence’, at least half of patients will now be cured.

But it also warns that although patients live longer, many of them are being left to struggle with devastating health and emotional side-effects.

Figures show that around 42,500 patients who were diagnosed in the 1970s and 1980s are living with a so-called ‘cancer legacy’ including osteoporosis, heart disease or exhaustion.

The report warns that the NHS is letting cancer patients ‘fall off a cliff’ as soon as they are given the all-clear, by failing to offer them long-term help.

Jane Maher, chief medical officer at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘With so many people alive today who were diagnosed with cancer in the 1970s and 1980s, it’s clear that having cancer is no longer necessarily the death sentence it once was; that is a cause for celebration.

‘We now see fewer of the big sideeffects such as increased risk of heart attack and stroke we saw after treatment in the 1970s and 1980s. But some of the effects doctors consider “small”, such as fatigue and poor bowel control, can have a profound impact on someone’s quality of life. Sadly, there is no cancer treatment available at the moment that does not carry a risk of side-effects. In the future we will have even more people living with cancer in the long-term.

‘Our health service needs to be equipped to meet the increasing demand over the coming years.’ Sally Jorden, a nurse who started working in the 1960s, said: ‘If a patient was diagnosed, their relatives begged us not to tell them.

‘Of course, we had to tell the patient the truth but we understood their loved ones were trying to shield them from what was considered a death sentence.’

Another nurse who worked in the 1980s said: ‘Cancer was hush hush. Our job was to explain what cancer was in the kindliest way possible.’

The improvements in survival are down to earlier diagnosis – as a result of breast screening, for example – and more sophisticated treatments including surgical procedures and breakthrough drugs.

Recent advances include immunotherapy, where drugs teach the body’s immune system to fight the tumours.

Macmillan estimates there are 171,000 patients diagnosed in the 1970s and 1980s who are still alive today. This includes 43,000 women with breast cancer, which has seen one of the most marked improvements in survival rates.

Almost 80 per cent of women diagnosed with breast cancer can expect to live at least ten years, compared with 40 per cent in the 1970s.

‘Profound impact on quality of life’