The percentage of men dying from prostate cancer has fallen by a fifth in 20 years thanks to better treatment, figures show.
There are now just 24 deaths per 100,000 down from 30 per 100,000 in the early 1990s.
Experts credit the reduction on the availability of more effective drugs as well as advances in surgery and radiotherapy.
Prostate cancer is by far the most common form of the disease in men and there are 41,000 new cases in Britain every year
But campaigners say the death rates remain far too high and claim there are still too few treatment options for men.
Prostate cancer is by far the most common form of the disease in men and there are 41,000 new cases in Britain every year and there are 10,700 deaths.
But figures from Cancer Research UK also show the survival rates have substantially improved and 7 in 10 will live for at least ten years compared to just 2 in 10 in the 1970s.
Researchers credit the reduction on improved drugs ¿ particularly those which use hormones to attack tumours
Professor Malcolm Mason, Cancer Research UK’s prostate cancer expert based at Cardiff University, said: ‘We’ve come a long way in improving the treatment of prostate cancer in the last couple of decades.
‘And improvements in how we treat prostate cancer have been key to reducing deaths from the disease. But a lot more work still needs to be done.’
Researchers credit the reduction on improved drugs – particularly those which use hormones to attack tumours such as abiraterone.
They also say it is down to more radical surgery techniques which have enabled previously inoperable tumours to be removed as well as radiation therapy.
In addition, more doctors now make use of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test which measures levels of a protein which is normally higher when cancer is present.
It can be misleading however and has led to thousands of men having unnecessary treatment for tumours which would never have caused them any harm – often resulting in long term side effects such as incontinence and impotence.
Scientists are currently trying to develop a more accurate blood test which can pinpoint exactly which tumours are harmful.
Charities pointed out that although men’s chances of beating prostate cancer had improved, the overall number of deaths had increased because there are now many more cases.
Rates of the disease have tripled in the last 40 years although this is largely due to better testing which is picking up tumours which previously would have gone undetected.
Owen Sharp, Chief Executive of Prostate Cancer UK said: ‘While on the surface death rates from prostate cancer are falling this data shows that in real terms more men died of prostate cancer last year than they did twenty years ago.
‘Although on average more men are surviving cancer for longer, 10,000 men still die each year of the disease – that’s a shocking one man every hour. Men deserve much better.
‘The raw truth is that there are simply too few options for men with advanced prostate cancer and even lifesaving treatments for less aggressive cancers can have life-changing side effects.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2482731/Deaths-prostate-cancer-fall-20-20-years-thanks-better-treatment.html#ixzz2jbneggHd
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