Increase in the no. of cancer survivors

The increase is due to improvements in diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care as well as the growing aging population.

“A lot of wonderful things have happened,”  says a Dr. “This is very good news.”

The cancers with the greatest number of survivors include breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer, the new report shows. There were also dramatic improvements in survival rates for childhood cancers. “We certainly do need better outcomes for pancreatic, lung, brain, and ovarian cancers,”  says the Dr.

Health Needs of Cancer Survivors

The growing numbers of cancer survivors have health needs and challenges that are not yet fully understood, Rowland says.

 Some cancer treatments do have significant side effects that may linger,  says the Dr.

“More and more people realize that some cancers are curable and others can be controlled,” .

“Life is not over when you get cancer,” says the Dr.

“There is tons of research going on right now that is trying to understand this population's medical and public health needs and make efforts to meet the needs,” she says. “We want to encourage all including cancer survivors, to quit smoking, engage in regular activity, and eat healthy foods.”

No one wants to hear the word cancer in terms of them or anyone that they love, but many public figures have demonstrated that not only can you live past diagnosis and treatment period, but you can live well and successfully. We all know people who have been treated for cancer and they are more open about discussing their own experience.”

“We certainly need more work in diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer, pancreas, and head and neck cancers,”  says the Dr. “These are areas where research is extremely important in improving diagnosis, survival, and the quality of that survival.”

“There has been an increasing focus on research on quality of care during treatment and afterward,”  says a Dr.

Many of today’s cancer treatments are more palatable,  says the Dr. “We have so many more supportive care interventions including relaxation modalities and other types of therapies to help people through treatment.”

Better Understanding of Cancer Survival

“We need a formal plan about how to follow cancer survivors and not just for risk of recurrence and surveillance,”  says the dr. “We need to make sure we understand the late or long-term effects of their treatments so we can intervene and improve health.”

“There will be even greater numbers of survivors in the future and we need a better understanding of cancer survivorship, and what it entails for patients, their families, and caregivers,” says a Dr. “We need to intensify and provide more focus on our efforts to understand the issues associated with cancer survival.”

These may include research on some of the long-term effects of cancer therapy such as “chemo brain,” which is how many survivors refer to the mental fuzziness after chemotherapy, or how therapies affect the bones and heart in the long term. “We can’t say ‘you beat cancer’ and forget about it,”  says a Dr.

“We also need to redouble the financial issues, insurance issues, psychosocial issues, and pain management issues,” he says.