The chances of a patient dying from three of the most common cancers will soon be half what they were 20 years ago, figures show.
Earlier diagnosis and advances in surgery and treatment mean that by 2020 the total death rate from breast, prostate and bowel cancer will have dropped by 44 per cent since the early 1990s.
Estimates by Macmillan Cancer Research show that by the end of the decade, 64 per cent of women will survive breast cancer, 64 per cent of men prostate cancer and 61 per cent of sufferers will beat bowel cancer.
But campaigners remain concerned that survival rates for lung cancer – the second commonest form – are not increasing at the same pace.
Figures show that by 2020 the proportion of patients expect to live beyond five years after diagnosis will stll be less than one in four.
The illness is the second biggest killer after heart disease and is usually diagnosed only when it is too late to be treated.
And despite the advances in the other three cancers, survival rates in Britain still lag well behind those in other European countries. A major study of 29 countries found that the UK was on a par with Slovenia, Czech Republic and Estonia far below France, Germany and Scandinavia.
Campaigners say GPs need to be given more training to help them spot the warning signs – especially for lung cancer – so patients can be referred for tests.
Professor Jane Maher, chief medical officer at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘People diagnosed with three of the four most common cancers are more likely to survive but GPs need more support to help them diagnose lung cancer earlier.
‘We’ve been working with the GP community to develop the tools that can help.’
Figures by Macmillan show that by 2020 the proportion of patients surviving breast and prostate cancer will have increased by two-thirds since 1992. Over the same period, the amount surviving bowel cancer will have risen by 50 per cent.
The charity said the advances are largely due to earlier diagnosis, with patients being more aware of the warning signs and improved scans.
There have also been major advances in surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and, more recently, new drugs to target certain genes, which have drastically boosted survival chances.
n 1992, only 39 per cent of those diagnosed with breast cancer lived for at least five years – the measure of survival. For prostate cancer patients the figure was 28 per cent and for bowel cancer 33 per cent.
Katherine Woods, research information manager at Breast Cancer Campaign said: ‘These figures look really encouraging.
‘We know that deaths from breast cancer are decreasing, and are on track to continue to do so. But it is not quick enough.’
And Drew Lindon, head of policy and campaigns at Prostate Cancer UK, said: ‘While prostate cancer survival rates have improved compared to other cancers, beneath the surface we see worrying indications that Britain is lagging behind the European average on survival rates.
‘One man dies every hour from prostate cancer and yet we still have no reliable way of being able to tell the killer forms from those which might never cause harm.
‘Men in Britain dese
rve better and that’s what we’re fighting for.’
Source: Daily Mail