Early diagnosis hugely increases the likelihood that cancer patients can have tumour removal surgery, according to an analysis published today.
It also reduces the need for patients to have chemotherapy, according to the analysis, claimed as the first of its kind.
Researchers at Cancer Research UK and Public Health England studied the records of 500,000 patients with 22 different types of cancer.
They found that 70% of those diagnosed at stage 1 had surgery – but only 13% of those diagnosed at stage 4.
Some 12% of stage 1 patients had chemotherapy compared with 39% of stage 4 patients.
Dr Jem Rashbass, cancer lead at Public Health England, said: “This data is the most comprehensive of its kind in the world, linking stage of diagnosis and treatment for individual patients.
“Its wealth of knowledge will help us to better understand treatment and survival patterns and underpins the importance of early diagnosis and screening”.
Sara Hiom, from Cancer Research UK, said: “This research shows how important an early diagnosis is for simplifying the treatment options as much as possible. Until now, we’ve not been able to look at such rich data for the whole of England and analyse who’s been treated how.
“Now, thanks to recent improvements, it’s possible to show how stage affects the treatments patients need, giving us a more complete picture.”
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