Wycombe Hospital leads innovation, as 'one million lives' saved from cancer
More than one million lives have been saved from cancer in the UK over the past four decades, with Wycombe Hospital setting an example for breast cancer treatment
Last updated 14th Oct 2024
According to new analysis from Cancer Research UK, over a million lives have been saved over the last four decades in the UK due to advances in cancer care.
This translates into a fall in the death rates by around a quarter since the 1980s.
The charity said if these rates had stayed the same then 1.2 million more lives would have been lost to the disease.
Among reasons behind the positive figures are progress in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
At Wycombe Hospital, a leading technology in breast cancer treatment is being used whereby magnets are introduced into the breast to help locate the growth.
Dr Fiona Tsang-Wright, breast surgeon and consultant at Wycombe hospital, said: "We use a magnetic seed, called 'Magseed', which we place into the cancer."
"It enables us to precisely mark the cancer and direct it to remove the growth without removing parts of the breast we don't need to."
The Magtrace, a sugar coated iron liquid, is then introduced into the breast to locate glands under the arm at the time of surgery.
Dr Tsang-Wright said: "If there was any iron leftover, it would also be absorbed back into the body's iron stores."
Both technologies combined are called the Magtotal Approach, and the idea is to cause minimal disruption to the body, with a localised surgery.
Together with up-to-date screening technology and a large unit which offers patients the opportunity to consult and be treated in the same place, the breast cancer unit is among leading hospitals in cancer treatment.
And doctors at Wycombe Hospital believe investment in cancer research and technology could help bring numbers right down.
Professor Jean Abraham, lead of the Personalised Breast Cancer Programme at the University of Cambridge, said: "This is a golden era for cancer research. We've seen incredible progress in the way that we prevent, diagnose and treat cancer."
"In my own field of personalising breast cancer treatments, we're now able to complete genome sequencing from the lab to the clinic in a matter of days, when 10 years ago it would have taken months."
Chief executive of Cancer Research UK , Michelle Mitchell, said: "Thanks to research and progress, a huge number of people in the last 40 years have reached milestones in their lives they didn't think they'd see and had more invaluable time with their loved ones."
But Cancer Research UK said that despite the huge achievement, cancer deaths are still the number one cause of death in the UK, with inequalities in cancer treatment between men and women.
And advances have not been equal across all cancers, it added.
A total of 17,000 breast cancer death have been avoided in the last 40 years, however lung cancers deaths are said to have been avoided the most with 560 000 lives saved, largely due to a reduction in smoking.
The charity also raised concerns about the "enormous strain" facing both the NHS and the research sector.
Cancer Research UK released the figures as it launches its latest campaign called Together We Are Beating Cancer.