Many Cancers Diagnosed After Emergency Admission to Hospital

Nearly one-third of cancers in people over the age of 70 are diagnosed following emergency admission to hospital, a recent research has revealed. Nearly 38,300 cancers a year in England are diagnosed in this manner. 55% of pancreatic cancers and 70% of cancers of the central nervous system for those over the age of 70 were first diagnosed after an emergency admission to hospital.

Sara Hiom, director of information at Cancer Research UK , said, “Our findings showing the sheer numbers of cancer patients first seen as an emergency are startling. Early diagnosis of cancer, when the most effective treatments are more likely to be options, helps improve a patient’s chance of surviving their disease. We don’t yet know the reasons that lie behind these stark figures but, although we might expect higher numbers of older patients to have cancer detected as an emergency, we urgently need to understand why there is such a great proportion.”



Source-Medindia