Lung cancer prognosis still poor, study says

23 November 2011

This week Macmillan Cancer Support published figures that suggested a great variation in median survival times between various types of cancer, with lung cancer still being shown as having one of the worst prognoses of any type of cancer. The findings showed that the survival rate has improved from 2 months in 1971/72 to five months now.

Speaking about the findings, Professor Stephen Spiro, Honorary Medical Advisor at the British Lung Foundation said:

“While more people who have been diagnosed with lung cancer now have access to surgery for a possible cure, the median survival time is still low and must be further improved with better early diagnosis.”

The British Lung Foundation’s Lost Lives report which was published earlier this year described the prognosis of lung cancer in the UK as ‘dismal’. An analysis of the UK National Lung Cancer Audit Database showed that the proportion of people alive at one year in this dataset was 32%.

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