Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation has welcomed the findings of new data that suggests an increase in two-year survival rates for mesothelioma and lung cancer patients.
The data has been collated by the Get Data Out programme from the National Disease Registration Service, part of NHS England. For the first time, it includes new detailed statistics on incidence, treatment and survival for lung cancer and mesothelioma patients diagnosed between 2013 and 2020.
Mesothelioma is a cancer related to exposure to asbestos and predominantly affects the lining of the lungs. The UK has the highest incidence of the disease in the world with around 2,700 people diagnosed each year.
According to the data, 15.5% of patients diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma in 2013 survived for at least two years post-diagnosis, whereas the value was 20.3% for those diagnosed in 2019.
This and other data can be found at www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/getdataout/lung. Patients with lung, mesothelioma and other thoracic cancers have been divided into groups, based on tumour and patient characteristics, and statistics have been published for these groups.
Jesme Fox, Medical Director at Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, said: “It is great to see new data coming out for both lung cancer and mesothelioma. Data is so important to help understand the lung cancer landscape and that vital progress is being made.
But for us, this data is more than just numbers. It’s about people and it suggests that more people are living longer with lung cancer. That’s the ultimate goal.”
Liz Darlison, CEO of Mesothelioma UK said: “Mesothelioma UK is keen to facilitate access to national data relevant to mesothelioma, which is vital for service development, and improvements in care, treatment and experience. It also allows clinical teams to have insight into their services and benchmark against others.
“We’re very grateful to NHS England for their work on this data. They’re a delightful team to work with and we look forward to continuing to work with them as we seek to prepare a report highlighting the key aspects from the data.”
Kate Fleming, Head of Analysis for the National Disease Registration Service added: “We are pleased to publish these important statistics which add to the range of data we produce on cancer incidence, treatment, survival, and routes to diagnosis. Our data is used by academics, charities and clinicians to provide vital information about cancer, help improve patient outcomes and save lives.”
