Lung cancer cases among UK women have reached a record high, according to figures published today.
Cases reached 20,000 a year in 2012 for the first time since records began, reports Cancer Research UK today (1 July). This represents a 22% rise among women over the last two decades, with lung cancer now affecting 65 in every 100,000 UK women.
The rate for men is higher, at around 24,000 per year, but falling.
Experts led by Professor Caroline Dive of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, UK, say this reflects patterns in smoking behaviour – men’s smoking peaked in the 1940s, and women’s in the 1970s. They add that “much more needs to be done to tackle the poor long-term survival from this disease”.
Cancer Research UK has doubled its spending on lung cancer research in the last year, and widened research topics to include methods of studying the disease after it has spread, by isolating tumour cells in the blood.
“It really is devastating to see that the number of women diagnosed with lung cancer continues to climb,” commented Professor Dive. “We also know survival remains poor and one of the problems is that lung cancer tends to be diagnosed at a late stage when it has already spread. Cancer is very difficult to treat once it has spread around the body.
“It is very challenging to biopsy lung cancer and very hard for the patient too. The new technique we’re testing uses magnets to capture rogue cancer cells in patients’ blood and could be a more effective form of biopsy, providing vital information on the biology of the disease. And, ultimately, this could lead to better ways to treat patients.”
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