New cancer diagnosis information could help guide treatment: researchers

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – What’s the key to winning the battle against cancer: early diagnosis or better treatment? A new study could get doctors closer to answering that question.

It focused on the most common types: breast, lung, colorectal and prostate cancer.

The study has found advances over the last 20 years in screening and early detection have led to breast cancer being a type that is generally found when it is in the first stages of development — when it can be treated much more easily than if it were further along.

The thinking is this data will help policymakers figure out where efforts should be focused in fighting the disease.

That isn’t the case for lung cancer, though; it is often discovered after it’s made it to other parts of the body.

The study notes less people choosing to smoke is helping take down the number of deaths, and work is being done that could lead to screening programs for people at high risk.

It does say ways to find the cancer before it’s advanced need to be developed.

Rami Rahal with the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer says screening programs for colorectal cancer only started about six or seven years ago.

“When we look at stage one versus stage four, there’s an equal likelihood of a patient being diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer as stage one, and survival for stage four is about ten percent after five years, compared to over ninety percent for stage one. So again, it underlines the importance of getting screened and catching the cancers early,” explains Rahal.

The study looked across the country.

“Because treatment studies vary by stage, knowing the stage of disease — what percentage of patients are diagnosed stage one versus stage two, three, and four — allows treatment programs in provinces to be able to plan their treatment service in terms of radiation therapy and surgery and so on.”

Rahal adds as more data is gathered over several years, they’ll be able to monitor the impact of expanded screening and the extent that it’s helping to reduce the number of people diagnosed with late-stage cancers.

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