‘Extraordinary’ number of cancer sufferers live decades after diagnosis

A recent research shows that people who have been diagnosed with cancer are twice as likely to live at least 10 years since diagnosis now than at the beginning of the 1970s.

In the UK alone, over 170,000 people who were diagnosed with the disease in the 70s and the 80s are still alive. A figure which Macmillan Cancer Support said was ‘extraordinary’ in the report, Cancer: Then and Now.

According to the charity, the rise in the number is because of improved treatment and also the ageing population. But they also point out that the variation is pretty big when it comes to the survival rates for different cancer types.

In the light of the findings they have warned that a rise in demand on the NHS would be a consequence-something to be expected when more people are living for longer with protracted side-effects.

It’s been estimated that in the UK, about 625,000 people face poor health or disability in the aftermath of cancer treatment. The reported long term effects vary from pain-inducing swelling on the lower leg in women (following breast cancer) to emotional trauma. As the number of people with cancer in the UK is pitted to go from 2.5 million to 4 million by 2030, the support systems should be expanded to match the numbers

The challenge for medical professionals

As per Lynda Thomas, the Macmillan Chief Executive, about one in four cancer patients are going to come out of treatment with “debilitating and very serious side effects.” These could include incontinence and serious sexual problems. She said that keeping up to speed with the potential side-effects and new treatments form the challenge for medical professionals.

Thomas pointed out that in the last year alone, around 116,000 cancer patients in England didn’t have potential long-term side effects from cancer clearly explained to them.

She also suggests that armed with a knowledge of possible side effects, the patients wouldn’t have to regret lifestyle decisions that may be taken in the absence of such knowledge.

As for those diagnosed with cancer in the 70s and 80s but may still be suffering from long-term consequences, Macmillan puts the estimate at about 42,500 people.

37 year old Greig Trout from Thames Ditton, South-West London is case in point. As a cancer patient as a child he developed scoliosis, eczema and deep vein thrombosis. Putting on muscle on his upper body is a struggle for him. Blood thinning pills are to be taken every day and physiotherapy done for his back.

Trout’s second bout of cancer was diagnosed when he was 30. Doctors believe that it could be due to the radiation therapy from 20 years ago.

Trout says that the life-saving treatment he had as a child has now come back to bite him, adding that it would be good for GPs to be more aware of the side effects, given how people are struggling with side effects of treatments they had in the 80s.

“I’m just trying to enjoy every day as it comes and just be grateful to be here”-something else that Trout said may well be echoed by others diagnosed with the disease in the previous decades.