Survival rates are improving for patients diagnosed with primary metastatic cancer,according to a new report from the Netherlands Cancer Registry (IKNL). The percentage of patients still alive three years after diagnosis rose from 17% in 2014-2018 to 21% in 2019-2023. experts attribute this increase to the benefits a subset of patients are experiencing from newer treatments like targeted therapy and immunotherapy.
The median survival time for all patients with primary metastatic cancer has also seen a modest increase over the past 15 years, rising from 5 months in 2004-2008 to 7 months in 2019-2023. In 2023, approximately 22,000 individuals in the Netherlands were diagnosed with metastatic cancer at the time of their initial diagnosis. Half of these patients succumb to the disease within 7 months - a statistic that has remained unchanged since 2020.
Metastases are detected at diagnosis more frequently with pancreatic cancer, while melanoma is the least likely to present with distant spread. An estimated 18,000 people are diagnosed with metastases *after* an initial cancer diagnosis each year.
Survival outcomes vary significantly depending on the cancer type, with prostate and breast cancer patients generally experiencing the longest survival times. The moast ample improvements in 3-year survival rates since 2018 have been observed in patients with melanoma, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, and lung cancer.
Source: IKNL
