Calls to monitor cancer sufferers for longer

CANCER patients who have been given the all-clear should be monitored for years longer than currently takes place, a study suggests.

Researchers examined the records of more than 2.3 million patients and found that those treated for lung and ovarian cancers in particular would benefit from longer follow-up observation.

Women who had been treated for ovarian cancer had a smaller long-term chance of dying from the disease if they stayed under observation for eight years after their original diagnosis, according to the study.

However, charities said the normal length of followup in the UK was closer to five years.

The study also found it was safer to monitor lung cancer patients for at least six and a half years, although standard practice is more commonly five.

Patient groups last night warned the current cut-off periods were “arbitrary” and that cancer sufferers risked being abandoned.

However the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which has the power to set the clinical rules NHS medics must follow, said its guidelines allowed doctors and patients to discuss the observation period that would work best in each case.