Lancet Oncol: How much does different treatments and imaging tests affect cancer survival? The Harvard team at The Lancet analyzed data on 11 cancers in 200 countries.

With the development of medical research, we have more "weapons" in the face of cancer.
, diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the development of therapy has a significant impact on survival, and complement each other.
, for example, imaging can help determine cancer stages, develop treatment plans, and assess treatment effectiveness in a timely manner.
, what improvements in the whole process of diagnosis and treatment can better improve survival rates? Recently, The Lancet-Oncology published a model study led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health that assessed the impact of the prevalence of different therapies and imaging tests on cancer survival rates in different countries around the world.
study covered 200 countries and territories and covered 11 types of cancer, including esophageal, stomach, colon, rectal,, liver, pancreatic, lung, breast, cervical and prostate cancers, accounting for 60% of all newly diagnosed cancer cases worldwide in 2018.
team first assessed the current survival rate.
the global five-year net survival rate for these 11 cancers is expected to be 42.6 per cent under existing treatment conditions.
On a global average, the five-year survival rate for colorectal,, breast and prostate cancers is more than 50 per cent, and in middle- and high-income areas, the five-year survival rate for cervical cancer is more than 60 per cent.
There are significant differences between countries, with northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand with the highest five-year survival rates, followed by North America and the rest of Europe, and low-income regions with low-income areas where survival rates are not high even for cancer species with better global average prognosms.
In low-income areas, the majority (65.7 per cent) of cancers were terminally ill at the time of diagnosis (phase III-IV), compared with 58.5 per cent in middle- and high-income areas (including China) and 44.3 per cent in high-income areas.
, however, even taking into account differences in diagnosis, the five-year net survival rate in high-income areas is much higher, reaching 10-17 times higher in low-income areas in stage I-III cancers.
Further analysis of the impact of different treatment methods, data show that in the treatment intervention, improving the quality of care will maximize survival rates in low-income areas, followed by surgery and radiotherapy, increased access to surgery will bring maximum survival benefits to low- and middle-income areas, followed by radiotherapy, while in middle- and high-income areas, the increase in targeted treatment applications is most important to improve survival rates.
imaging is also essential for survival growth.
For low-income areas, universal ultrasound applications will maximize survival rates, MRI, PET and CT improvements are most important in middle- and high-income areas, including China, and PET, CT and SPECT should be the most important for high-income countries.
, in general, increased access to basic treatments is more important in low- and middle-income areas, where the use of cutting-edge imaging can bring more survival benefits.
, however, it is important to note that the increased access to any single treatment or imaging test has a limited contribution to improving survival.
not difficult to understand, the impact of integrated development will be more far-reaching.
For example, in low-income areas, improving access to treatment, imaging and quality of care can increase the five-year net survival rate by more than 10 times (3.8% - 45.2%), and in low- and middle-income countries, a multi-pronged approach can double the five-year net survival rate (20.1% - 47.1%).
, even with overall increased access, there is still a gap in survival rates in other regions compared to high-income areas.
team points out that this may be due to the generally late diagnosis and the fact that some types of cancer with poorer prognosis, such as stomach and liver cancer, are more common in low-income countries.
The team concluded, "The results of the model study show that cancer survival rates vary from region to region, to a large extent to the prevalence and quality of treatment and imaging tests, and are also related to the characteristics of cancer incidence in different regions."
hope that with the development of newer and better medical interventions and the widespread use of existing tools, more patients will realize their dream of turning cancer into a chronic disease.
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