A group of five non profit organizations has stated that the survival rates for patients afflicted with liver, pancreatic, lung, brain, stomach, and oesophageal are currently “unacceptable”.
According to them, patients that have these types of cancer have only a meager 14 percent chance of surviving beyond five years, compared to a high 64 percent for other cancer types such as prostate, bowel, and breast cancer.
According to the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, their report also shows that this large difference can be attributed to the lack of research on the said diseases. Other major factors that can be blamed are late diagnosis, a lack of treatment options, and low awareness of symptoms.
Sadly, it has been found out that only 17% of UK’s cancer research funding goes to the research of these deadlier forms. While the other 83 percent of the funds are given to the 11 other more survivable types of cancer.
The Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce is composed on the Pancreatic Cancer UK, the Brain Tumour Charity, the British Liver Trust, Action Against Heartburn and Core. The task force was formally launched last July 18 in Westminster, UK.
“While over the past 40 years the five-year survival rate has almost doubled for breast cancer and prostate cancer, these six less survivable cancers are more or less as deadly as they were in the 1970s,” said John Baron, MP for Basildon and Billericay and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group. Baron expressed his alarm regarding the findings by describing it as “very concerning”.
The Pancreatic Cancer UK reportedly warned that unless new diagnosis methods are made the death rates of pancreatic cancer will just keep on rising. The disease could soon overtake breast cancer which is currently the fourth deadliest form of cancer.
Pancreatic cancer has been deemed as a silent killer as its early detection is incredibly difficult. It is estimated to take as much as 11,000 lives each year by 2026 unless something is done about it. Data shows that 8,817 individuals have succumbed to the disease in 2014 alone.
Statistics have shown that 51 percent or 70,000 incidences of all cancer-related deaths can be attributed to the six deadliest forms of cancers.
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