People are twice as likely to survive for at least 10 years following a diagnosis of cancer today than they were at the start of the 1970's. Research published by the charity Macmillan Cancer Support in a report called Cancer: Now and Then reveals that more than 170,000 people in the UK who were diagnosed with cancer in the 1970's or 80's are still alive today.
The authors of the report compared the diagnosis, treatment and care of cancer in the 1970's and 1980's to the experiences of cancer in the 2010's. The report also estimates that the number of people living with cancer in the UK will grow from 2.5 million to 4 million by 2030.
Early Screening and Better Treatments
The dramatic improvement in survival rates has been underpinned by faster, more accurate diagnostic techniques and the huge advances and innovations that have been made to cancer treatment including targeted radiation therapy, image-guided ablation and robotic surgery to name just a few.
See also FAQs on New Breast Cancer Treatments
