The chances of survival after a cancer diagnosis have risen sharply in recent decades, the Foundation against Cancer announced on the occasion of World Cancer Day. It is estimated that in our country about 185,000 extra people have survived cancer in the last 30 years.
If cancer death rates had remained at 1989 levels, there would have been 185,000 more deaths in Belgium over the past three decades. This was calculated by the Cancer Registry Foundation. The avoided deaths are thus directly proportional to the extra lives saved thanks to the progress in the fight against cancer. For men, this amounts to 133,000 lives, for women about 53,000. Divided by type of cancer, the greatest benefit for men lies with prostate and colon cancer, while for women this mainly concerns breast and colon cancer patients. .
This spectacular progress is partly the result of groundbreaking and innovative research, which is co-financed and supported by the Foundation against Cancer. In the past 30 years, almost 100 research projects have been supported in this way.
Immunotherapy and precision oncology
Precision oncology and the well-known immunotherapy are the two biggest revolutions in cancer treatment in recent years. Thanks to the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of cancer, doctors can now better define which medication works best for each patient. Molecularly, some cancers such as breast and lung cancer can be further characterized and treated depending on the subtype. In this way, more efficient and less toxic medication can be used.
Immunotherapy also continues to develop at a rapid pace. The patient’s immune system is supported or made extra active by the treatment. Good results are being achieved with certain lung and colon cancers, melanoma, kidney cancer and gives hope for gliomas (brain tumors), stomach cancers and a number of other cancers.
Even more and better screening
In the European Union, about 40% of cancers are preventable. That is why focusing on better prevention and more thorough screening remains important. Prevention is also a cost-effective strategy for the long-term fight against cancer. “Early detection for cervical, breast and colon cancer is already saving many lives and many participants still have a high quality of life. But participation in these screening programs must increase further and no subgroups should be left behind. We still score below par with the Netherlands, for example, breast cancer screening currently reaches only 1 in 2 women, while in the Netherlands it is 80%, and only half of the target group participates in bowel cancer screening.
In addition, there are other and new cancer screening programs in the queue, such as lung cancer screening, which can once again achieve significant health benefits,” says Prof. Guido Van Hal (University of Antwerp). He is participating in a new project by the Foundation against Cancer to determine how such a lung cancer screening can possibly be organized This type of cancer occurs frequently but is currently not screened for, which means that it is often discovered too late.
Lung cancer screening?
This makes treatment very difficult and the chances of survival are lower. “Recent studies show that if we did lung cancer screening, mortality from lung cancer could fall sharply, both in men and women.” The obstacle here is determining the target group that qualifies. For example, there are no lists of smokers and ex-smokers, so researchers have to look for other channels to recruit the right target groups for such a screening.
If cancer death rates had remained at 1989 levels, there would have been 185,000 more deaths in Belgium over the past three decades. This was calculated by the Cancer Registry Foundation. The avoided deaths are thus directly proportional to the extra lives saved thanks to the progress in the fight against cancer. For men, this amounts to 133,000 lives, for women about 53,000. Divided by type of cancer, the greatest benefit for men lies with prostate and colon cancer, while for women this mainly concerns breast and colon cancer patients. . This spectacular progress is partly the result of groundbreaking and innovative research, which is co-financed and supported by the Foundation against Cancer. In the past 30 years, almost 100 research projects have been supported in this way. Precision oncology and the well-known immunotherapy are the two biggest revolutions in cancer treatment in recent years. Thanks to the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of cancer, doctors can now better define which medication works best for each patient. Molecularly, some cancers such as breast and lung cancer can be further characterized and treated depending on the subtype. In this way, more efficient and less toxic medication can be used. Immunotherapy also continues to develop at a rapid pace. The patient’s immune system is supported or made extra active by the treatment. Good results have been achieved with certain lung and colon cancers, melanoma, kidney cancer and gives hope for gliomas (brain tumors), stomach cancers and a number of other cancers. In the European Union, approximately 40% of cancer cases are preventable. That is why focusing on better prevention and more thorough screening remains important. Prevention is also a cost-effective strategy for the long-term fight against cancer. “Early detection for cervical, breast and colon cancer is already saving many lives and many participants still have a high quality of life. But participation in these screening programs must increase further and no subgroups should be left behind. we still score below average with the Netherlands. For example, screening for breast cancer today only reaches 1 in 2 women, while in the Netherlands it is 80%, and only half of the target group participates in screening for bowel cancer. In addition, there are other and new screening programs for cancer are in the queue, such as lung cancer screening, which means that a lot of health gains can once again be achieved,” says Professor Guido Van Hal (University of Antwerp). He is participating in a new project of the Foundation against Cancer to find out how such a lung cancer screening can possibly be organized. This type of cancer is common, but currently it is not screened for, which means that it is often discovered too late. This makes treatment very difficult and the chances of survival are lower. “Recent studies show that if we did lung cancer screening, mortality from lung cancer could be greatly reduced, both in men and women.” The obstacle here is determining the target group that qualifies. For example, there are no lists of smokers and ex-smokers, so researchers have to look for other channels to recruit the right target groups for such a screening.