10-year cancer survival rate up slightly to 56.3%: survey

TOKYO (Kyodo) – The 10-year survival rate for patients diagnosed with cancer between 2002 and 2005 was 56.3%, according to a National Cancer Center Japan survey, up 0, 8 point compared to the previous one.

The five-year survival rate of those diagnosed between 2008 and 2010 dropped from 67.6% to 67.9% the year before, the institute said.

The survey showed that survival rates have been steadily increasing since the late 1990s, apparently reflecting an improvement in early detection technology and cancer treatments.

The 10-year survival rate was calculated based on data from 70,285 people diagnosed with cancer who had been treated at 20 medical centers in Japan.

The five-year survival rate covered 140,675 patients in 32 facilities.

According to the type of cancer, the 10-year survival rate for prostate cancer was highest (95.7%), followed by thyroid cancer (84.3%) and bad cancer (83.9%). %).

Among the worst, pancreatic cancer had a 10-year survival rate of 5.4%, liver cancer 14.6% and gall bladder or bile duct cancer 16.2%.

With respect to the five-year survival rate, prostate cancer was 100%, while bad cancer and thyroid cancer were 93.9% and 92.8%, respectively.

Pancreatic cancer had the lowest survival rate in five years at 9.2%.

By disease stage, which is divided into four, six of the 18 types of cancer had a 10-year survival rate of more than 90% at stage I, or early stage of cancer. They include bad, colon and colorectal cancers.

But the survival rate for bad cancer was 15.9% and the colon cancer of 10.7% in stage IV where the disease had spread to other organs or to other organs. other parts of the body.

The 10-year survival rate for stage I liver cancer was 26.3% and pancreatic cancer 29%.

Survival rates are expected to improve further with the development of new anti-cancer drugs such as Opdivo, a drug that triggers the attack of the immune system by cancer cells.

These new drugs "will change the way of choosing medical treatments and could also have a significant impact on survival rates," said Nobuhiro Saruki, director of the Institute of Public Health and Science of the United States. environment of Gunma Prefecture.

A head of the institute's investigative team said that it was necessary to create an early detection system to further improve the survival rate, as retirees tend to ignore the cancer screening.