There have been improvements in overall survival rates for three of the four major cancers occurring in Ireland but there are still variations in cancer survival between regions, a report published by the National Cancer Registry (NCR) today shows.
While there were improvements in the numbers alive five years after a diagnosis of breast, colorectal or prostate cancer, survival rates for lung cancer did not improve and substantial regional variation in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal therapy persists.
On average 22,000 people a year get cancer in Ireland, a third of whom die from cancer-related illnesses.
The NCR analysed cancer treatment and survival in the Republic between 1994 and 2001. These are the latest available figures because cancer survival is measured five years after diagnosis. They show a 75.4 per cent survival rate for breast cancer, 69.5 per cent for prostate cancer and 49.2 per cent for colorectal cancer.
However, only 8.6 per cent of patients with lung cancer were alive five years after diagnosis.
The modest improvement in survival for three of the four major cancers is in line with trends seen in the rest of Europe.
For breast, bowel and prostate cancers, survival rates were best for patients living in the east. Patients with breast cancer in the midlands, south, southeast and west had significantly lower survival rates. Survival was lower among patients with colorectal cancer in the midwest, south and southeast. Regional variations were less marked for lung cancer.
Forty-four per cent of patients diagnosed with breast cancer between 1998 and 2001 received radiotherapy treatment, a rate similar to the previous four-year period, while radiotherapy use increased markedly for prostate and colorectal cancers and to a lesser extent for lung cancer.
Chemotherapy use increased to a third of people with colorectal cancer and to 10 per cent in patients with prostate cancer.
The report finds a clear regional variation in the proportion of patients receiving particular types of treatment. Patients living outside the eastern region were less likely to receive radiotherapy for breast cancer or surgery for prostate cancer.
There was a relatively low use of radiotherapy in the west for people with breast, colorectal or lung cancer. Patients with the same cancers living in the midwest were less likely to receive chemotherapy.
"These variations are largely unexplained by patient and tumour characteristics suggesting that the treatments . . . may be as dependent on local policies and ease of access to services as on the seriousness of the cancer or the patient's suitability for treatment," the report says.
NCR director Dr Harry Comber said that while the figures did not reflect current cancer practice or treatment, "regional differences in treatment and survival have persisted and that is unsatisfactory".