In the last 33 years, the number of youngsters in Britain who pass away from cancer has almost halved.
Thanks to groundbreaking studies and trials conducted in the UK since the late 1980s, the mortality rate has significantly decreased.
Before the age of 14, 39 children per million between 1987 and 1989 passed away from cancer.
However, according to statistics from Cancer Research UK (CRUK), there are now only 21 cancer deaths per million youngsters.
According to statistics, there were 253 paediatric cancer deaths between 2017 and 2019; however, a secondary research shows that this number would have been closer to 800 if mortality rates had not declined since their high in the 1970s.
It indicates that since the 1970s, 17,000 paediatric cancer deaths have been prevented.
With a 60% decline in fatalities over three decades, one of the biggest advancements has been in the treatment of paediatric leukaemia.
Deaths from brain and spinal tumours have decreased by around a third as well.
According to experts, the UK has hosted some of the most effective clinical trials worldwide, which has contributed to the progress.
More than 90% of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma survive now because British researchers played a key role in determining the best chemotherapy medication combination.
A CRUK study from almost 15 years ago has allowed hundreds more people with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia to anticipate a normal life span.
While CRUK Children’s and Young People’s Research Lead Dr. Laura Danielson praised the findings, she stressed that more work must be done to provide more efficient medications with fewer side effects, especially for certain malignancies, like bone cancer, where advancement is lacking.
CRUK is urging people to contribute to important research during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, which falls on the same day as the data’s publication. “We are seeing more youngsters survive their disease and grow up into remarkable people,” CRUK director Michelle Mitchell said.
patient who is now a nursing student
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which damages white blood cells, was discovered in Katie Currie when she was just three years old.
It seemed to go gone after many months of therapy, but two years later she relapsed.
The 19-year-old from East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, was enrolled in a mitoxantrone experiment that was supported by CRUK. Everyone who participated was given the medicine as quickly as possible since the findings were so astonishing.
By doing this, Katie, a student of child health nursing, wanted to express her gratitude for the assistance she received.
The trial’s principal investigator, Professor Vaskar Saha, declared: “I wouldn’t be alive now if I had cancer as a youngster. It’s entirely different now.