Long-term survival of cancer patients in Germany achieved by the beginning of the third millenium

Over the last decades, long-term survival rates have substantially increased for many forms of cancer. However, these improvements have often been detected with substantial delay by traditional methods of survival analyses.

Using data of the population-based Saarland Cancer Registry, 5- and 10-year relative survival rates were derived for patients with 24 common forms of cancer in Saarland/Germany for the years 2000-2002 by period analysis and compared with conventional cohort estimates of 5- and 10-year relative survival rates pertaining to patients diagnosed in 1990-1992.

For many forms of cancer, the 2000-2002 period survival estimates were substantially higher than the corresponding estimates for the cohorts of patients diagnosed in 1990-1992. For example, 10-year relative survival rates achieved in 2000-2002 were close to 100% for patients with testis and thyroid cancer, >85% for patients with melanomas of the skin, approximately 80% for patients with endometrial cancer and prostate cancer, close to 70% for patients with breast cancer and kidney cancer, and close to 60% for patients with colon cancer and lymphomas.

Survival expectations of patients diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the third millenium are substantially higher than previously available survival statistics have suggested.