Breast cancer survival rates improve

Two out of every three women diagnosed with breast cancer will survive for at least 20 years, researchers predicted today.

A Cancer Research UK study used statistics from the last 30 years to estimate that 64% of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer in England and Wales will live for at least 20 years - compared with 44% in the early 1990s.

More than seven out of 10 women (72%) are now predicted to survive for at least 10 years, compared with 54% diagnosed in the early 1990s.

Survival in women aged 50 to 69 - the age group in which breast cancer is most commonly diagnosed - was even better.

Among these women, 80% were estimated to live for at least 10 years while 72% survived to at least 20 years.

But the experts said the true survival rate in the future could be even better, as new treatments such as Herceptin help boost women's chances of beating the disease.

Herceptin, which is effective in treating early stage cancer, was given fast-track approval status by the government last week following a test case victory by a nurse in Somerset.

The drug will be approved quickly after it is given a licence next year, and women are being tested for its use from now on.

Cancer Research UK epidemiologist Professor Michel Coleman said: "Overall long-term survival for women with breast cancer has improved dramatically over the last 10 years and we are seeing even better survival statistics for women in their 50s and 60s."

Prof Coleman said there was still more to be done to reduce the inequalities between rich and poor in terms of treatment and survival.

He also said UK still needed to catch up with much of western Europe in the treatment of cancer patients.

Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on new drugs should be speeded up to make treatments available to women as quickly as possible, he added.

Dr Sarah Rawlings, head of policy at charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "This is great news for anyone whose life has been affected by a breast cancer diagnosis.

"Early detection, better awareness and improved breast cancer treatments are all to thank for these dramatic improvements.

"If we want to improve these survival rates even further, then rapid access to diagnosis and treatment are key but ultimately what we'd really like to see is breast cancer becoming a preventable disease."