Cancer report: More patients are surviving cancer, according to the findings of the latest report from the National Cancer Registry (NCR) to be published today.
Some 50 per cent of women diagnosed with cancer between 1998 and 2000 are now alive compared with 48 per cent of those diagnosed between 1995 and 1997. At 44 per cent, men's five-year survival rate from cancer has increased by 6 per cent during the same period.
The Cancer in Ireland 1994 - 2000 report will be launched by the chairwoman of the NCR, Dr Elizabeth Keane, in Dublin. It shows that more than 20,000 cancers are diagnosed in the Republic each year.
Cancer of the bowel remains the commonest cancer, while lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death.
"Cancer numbers are expected to reach 22,000 by 2005, with the biggest increases in cancer of the skin, breast and prostate," the report says.
NCR director Dr Harry Comber told The Irish Times the increase in prostate cancer numbers in the Republic was greater than that seen in Northern Ireland over the same period.
"A lot of men here are having biopsies done, while in the North, doctors appear to be adopting a policy of 'watchful waiting'," he said.
The NCR and its Northern Ireland counterpart are carrying out joint research to pinpoint the exact cause for the difference in prostate cancer numbers.
The report says the number of patients treated for cancer is increasing by almost 3 per cent a year.
There has been a 7 per cent increase in those receiving chemotherapy, with a smaller rise in the number of patients getting radiotherapy.
Dr Comber said the number of patients being treated with chemotherapy had increased since 2000 following the appointment of consultant oncologists to all health boards but that their influence would not be apparent in the figures published today.
"This is our first time to include cancer prevalence figures, which is a measure of the number of cancer patients who are alive at any one time," Dr Comber said.
Cancer prevalence describes everyone who has ever had a diagnosis of cancer.
The report estimates 110,000 people (3.1 per cent of the population) have been successfully treated and have survived cancer.
"We need to follow up each cancer patient for a full lifetime to examine their post-cure needs," Dr Comber said.
"What is their quality of life, do they have particular needs having survived cancer, these are just some of the questions that need to be answered."
Cancers of the prostate, kidney, heart and lymphomas are on the increase, according to today's report.
"Cancers of the mouth, oesophagus [ gullet] and stomach are decreasing," according to the report.
Dr Comber said these trends broadly reflect an increase in the Republic of cancers associated with obesity, while those associated with deprivation are decreasing in numbers.