Survival of Danish cancer patients 1943-1987. Eye, brain and nervous system, thyroid, bone and connective tissue

The cancers covered in this chapter are those of the eye, brain and nervous system, thyroid, bone and connective tissue. Generally, detailed interpretations of data on cancers of the bone and connective tissue are inadvisable owing to small numbers of patients and major changes in diagnosis and registration over time. A slight but steady increase in survival was observed among patients diagnosed in 1943-87 with cancer of the eye. Relative five year survival increased from 60 to 68% in men and from 61 to 74% in women during the 45-year period. The predominant type of eye cancer seen in children, retinoblastoma, had a very favourable prognosis, with a relative five year survival rate of more than 80% since around 1960. Since that time, overall survival for patients with cancers of the brain and nervous system also increased. Relative five year survival improved from 25 to 36% in men and from 34 to 48% in women during 1960-85. Our data do not indicate to which extent therapeutic and diagnostic advances underlie the improvement in survival. Overall survival of patients with thyroid cancer also increased during 1943-87. Relative five-year survival improved from 26 to 58% in men and from 28 to 68% in women. Some of the improvement reflects earlier diagnosis of localized tumours, particularly in young women. A substantial improvement in survival was observed among children and adolescents (< 20 years) diagnosed in 1943-87 with primary bone cancers. Over the study period, the relative five-year survival in that age category and increased from 25 to 48% in males and from 16 to 52% in females. Use of adjuvant chemotherapy in cases of Ewing's sarcoma and osteosarcoma contributed importantly to the improvement in prognosis. Overall survival of patients with soft-tissue cancer associated with no specific organ increased until approximately 1970, after which time no further improvement was observed. The decreased survival seen in women during the last decade of the study is puzzling; the increase in mean age at diagnosis would only partially explain it.