London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

People diagnosed with breast and bowel cancer are today twice as likely to survive for at least 10 years as those diagnosed in the early 1970s, according to new figures produced by the Cancer Survival Group at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), released this week by Cancer Research UK.

The percentage of women likely to survive breast cancer for at least 10 years has jumped from less than 40% to 77%, while the percentage of people likely to survive bowel cancer for at least 10 years has risen from around 23% to around 50%.

Twice as many patients with ovarian cancer or non-Hodgkin lymphoma are likely to survive for at least 10 years, with survival jumping from 18% to 35% and 22% to 51%, respectively. For Hodgkin's disease, 10-year survival is predicted to increase from less than 50% to around 80%.

There is also encouraging news on leukaemia, where four times as many patients are likely to survive for 10 years or more compared with those diagnosed in the early 1970s. And while 10-year survival is still low for oesophageal cancer and myeloma (both below 2%), it is still predicted to treble over the same period.

Cancer Research UK launched its new national TV advertising campaign on 12 July, focussed on the message that much has been achieved in the fight against cancer but there is still more to do.

Professor Michel Coleman, Professor of Epidemiology and Vital Statistics and head of the Cancer Research UK Cancer Survival Group at LSHTM, said, "These big increases in long-term survival since the 1970s reflect real progress in cancer diagnosis and treatment. They also confirm the immense value of having a National Cancer Registry that holds simple information about all cancer patients diagnosed during the last 30-40 years."

He added: "Ten-year survival figures for patients diagnosed in 2007 are of course predictions, but they are derived from the latest national data on cancer patient survival - and for most cancers, the true 10-year survival for these patients will turn out to be higher than we report."

Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, said: "It is thanks to our supporters and the work of our scientists that we are seeing such encouraging improvements in long-term cancer survival. But we always aim to do better. We want to work on even more effective treatments that can prolong life further and to develop personalised medicine for patients."