New report highlights rise in childhood cancer survival rates

The number of children surviving cancer is continuing to rise at a rapid rate, according to a new study from Cancer Research UK.

Data from the research charity shows that 82 percent of children with cancer now survive for five years or more, compared to just three in ten in the late 1960s. This also represents an increase from the 79 percent figure recorded a decade ago.

This positive trend is attributable the availability of many different chemotherapy drugs, which can be combined to deliver better outcomes for patients.

Survival rates among young liver and bone cancer patients have made particularly good progress in recent years, though other conditions – such as neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma – continue to lag behind.

Professor Pam Kearns, director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit in Birmingham, said: "As more and more children survive cancer, it is especially important that we concentrate on improving the quality of life after cancer."

Cancer in children is relatively rare, affecting about 1,500 children under the age of 14 each year in the UK. Young people tend to develop different kinds of cancer compared to adults.