SocietyGuardian.co.uk: Breast cancer survival rates improve

[bonnie]

A friend of my husband's sent this article to him and I found it interesting. Even though I live in the U.S., it's always nice to hear from other countries.
Bonnie
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> Breast cancer survival rates improve
> Press Association
> Monday October 10 2005
> The Guardian
>
>
> 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."
>
> Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
>