Carcinoma distantly metastatic at diagnosis: improvement in survival, 1945-1974

Survival rates for 3,842 Kansas and Missouri patients with carcinoma metastatic at diagnosis who were registered between the years 1945 and 1974 were examined. While there was no improvement in survival comparing the 1945-1954 and 1955-1964 decades, there was significant recent improvement in survival when the 1,805 patients diagnosed from 1945 to 1964 were compared to 2,037 patients diagnosed from 1965 to 1974. It was concluded that even in this particularly unfavorable presentation of cancer, there has been definite improvement in survival in the past decade.