99% of women who receive a diagnosis of early breast cancer (stage I) recover from the disease. The same goes for 92% of people who discover stage I colorectal cancer. Confirming the importance of early diagnosis in oncology is the Italian study published in the International Journal of Cancer, which also adds a further element: the more timely the diagnosis is, the quicker the patient can be said to be cured. The study, coordinated by the Oncology Reference Center of Aviano Irccs and the Azienda Zero of the Veneto Region, analyzed data from 31 Italian cancer registries focusing on the two most frequent cancers in Italy: breast and colorectal cancer.
“The study showed that, at the time of diagnosis, the probability of recovery for women with breast cancer goes from 99% for diagnoses made at the first stage (which represent over half of the diagnoses) to 36% when the disease presents in more advanced stages (about 10% of patients)”, says Luigino Dal Maso, statistical director of Oncology Epidemiology at the Oncology Reference Center and coordinator of the study. For colorectal cancer, the probability of recovery goes from 92% at stage I to 34% if the diagnosis arrives at stage III or IV.
Another element investigated by the study is how much time must pass from the moment of diagnosis before the risk of dying from the tumor becomes negligible. On average it takes about 10 years, but with large differences depending on age and stage at diagnosis. In particular, if the diagnosis occurs in stage I (and for breasts also in stage II) one year is enough for recovery. Be careful, however, warns Silvia Francisci, a researcher at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità among the authors of the study, this “should not be understood as a time which, once reached, no longer requires surveillance or recommendations suggested by treating doctors”.
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The results of the study published in the International Journal of Cancer” “are of great importance for women who so far have not been able to benefit from oncological oblivion in a short time (those who have had a first or second stage tumor considered cured after one year from the diagnosis). The implementing decrees, provided for by the law on the right to be forgotten oncology, will have to take this study into account in order to provide recovery times that are even much shorter than the 10 years from the end of the therapies, as currently established by the law”. Thus the general secretary of the Italian Federation of Volunteer Associations in Oncology (Favo) Elisabetta Iannelli comments on the results of an Italian study which indicated that, in the case of early diagnosis, the risk of mortality from breast and colon cancer quickly becomes negligible.
“For cancer patients to know the probability of recovery at diagnosis, the time it takes to achieve a similar life expectancy to those who have not had cancer and to know that the vast majority of people diagnosed with early-stage cancer is destined to heal in a few years represents extremely important information”, adds Iannelli and “provides an important useful piece for patients to regain control of their lives and return to a condition of normality”.
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