New hope for women with breast cancer

Rising epidemic

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among Chinese women, with its incidence growing by around 4 percent annually, higher than the global average, according to Xu Binghe, a leading breast cancer specialist at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

Also, the onset of the increasing incidences of breast cancer, compared with other cancers, starts at a younger age, around 30, and peaks at around 55, he said.

In 2015, roughly 304,000 women in China were diagnosed with breast cancer, accounting for 17 percent of all newly diagnosed cancer cases among women, according to the latest statistics from the Chinese National Central Cancer Registry.

In that year, 70,000 people died from breast cancer, accounting for roughly 8 percent of total cancer deaths, it reported.

Fortunately, breast cancer patients have a five-year survival rate of more than 83 percent, far higher than those with other cancers, said Chen Wanqing, director of the registry. Currently, the overall five-year survival rate nationally for all types of cancer is 40 percent.

The overall rate for breast cancer in developed countries is 91 percent, he said.

Chen blamed factors such as low rates of early detection and poor treatment for late-stage sufferers for the gap.

Liao advocates constant international cooperation, particularly with the US, to combat breast cancer and better serve patients.

The 2019 China-US Summit Forum on Breast Cancer will open today in Guangzhou, with hundreds of top breast cancer experts from the two countries.

"Such academic exchanges and cooperation will be of mutual benefits for both sides and represent the start of wider and deeper collaboration in the future to better contain breast cancer," she said.

Xu Binghe agreed and called for strengthened early screening programs and enhanced patient access to all necessary cancer treatments, including radiation, in China to improve treatment outcome.

"That's in line with global best practice," he said.

He said breast cancer was likely to be the first curable cancer type, citing existing scientific evidence.

"Even late-stage breast cancer might, in the future, be treated just like a chronic condition, rather than a terminal disease," he said.

Liao summed up, "Assuring patients that they will receive the best treatment possible and not be affected in later life is also the responsibility of us doctors."