Two thirds of the patients who were diagnosed with cancer in 2013 were still alive five years later. The Dutch Cancer Registry reports this on Monday. In the last five years, the chance of survival of people who get cancer has increased by about 1 percentage point each year.
Because the disease is detected faster and is treated more effectively thanks to new treatment methods, so-called five-year survival is increasing, according to the Integraal Kankercentrum Nederland (IKNL). At the start of the polls in 1989, 43 percent of patients were still alive five years later.
Especially people with breast cancer, prostate cancer, (esophagus) colon cancer, kidney cancer and many types of blood and lymph node cancer see their chances of cure increasing. There are positive outliers among prostate cancer patients. Almost 90 percent of that group is still alive five years after the diagnosis is made; an increase of 27 percentage points compared to the first survey.
Cancer types with the highest chance of cure
- Skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma): 94 percent
- Skin cancer (melanoma): 92 percent
- Prostate cancer: 89 percent
- Breast cancer (invasive): 88 percent
- Uterine cancer: 79 percent
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IKNL is less positive about the progress made for people with stomach or bladder cancer. The chance of survival for those patients increased over the past two decades by ‘only’ a few percentage points. Researchers say that for bladder cancer patients there is “new perspective” due to new immunotherapies, but with gastric cancer the chance of survival is hampered by metastases. At 5 percent, pancreatic cancer has the lowest chance of survival.
The outlook for lung cancer patients has improved slightly. In the meantime, 21 percent of patients still live five years after being diagnosed, compared to 12 percent in 2003. This type of cancer, which is most common in the Netherlands, causes more than 10,000 deaths every year.
Cancer types with the lowest chance of cure
- Pancreatic cancer: 5 percent (2 percent in 1990)
- Lung cancer: 21 percent (12 percent in 1990)
- Esophageal cancer: 23 percent (8 percent in 1990)
- Brain tumor: 24 percent (18 percent in 1990)
- Stomach cancer (excluding cardiac cancer) 25 percent (23 percent in 1990)
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