Early Cancer Detection Triples Patient Survival

If cancer is detected early, the patients boost their survival rates by three times, studies show. Hence, it is vital that medicos and doctors should identify the symptoms quickly before tumours spread.

The Cancer Research, UK, found that 80 per cent of patients who suffer from eight common cancers, live on for at least ten years if it is identified early, according to dailymail.

However, those who are later in diagnosis tend to increase their risk by 25 per cent, when tumours spread to the bones, brain, lungs or other organs.

It was just last week that cancer survival rates in Britain were found to be be ten years behind other western countries---mainly due to late diagnosis. It happened because a number of symptoms were missed.

When a cancer is detected early, patients have more effective treatment options and potential cures available to them, according to cancer.

Half the patients in UK are identified as patients in Stage 1 when the illness is confined to a single organ. In Stage 2, cancer would spread to a small area of nearby tissue.

The other half are seen to be in the late stage of Phase 3, after it spreads to the lymph nodes in the armpits or stomach, and stage 4, after it has touched the bones, liver, brain, lungs or other organs.

Scientists examined the survival rates for breast, cervical, bladder, bowel, womb, skin, ovarian and testicular cancers, that made up 40 per cent of UK cases. "The ten-year survival rates were the highest for patients diagnosed in stage 1, at 90 per cent, falling to just 5 per cent for those who had already reached stage 4."

Sara Hiom, of Cancer Research UK, said: "These figures show the prize on offer if we can diagnose more cancers earlier."