Female Cancer: The Facts
Watch Oncologist Daniel Ford explain the facts and myths of female cancer.
To read a transcript of the video, pleaseclick here
- Cancer is a common condition that as an oncologist I treat on a daily basis. Clearly a lot of people are worried about cancer. With regards to female specific cancers the most common cancer is breast cancer which is on the increase with over 46,000 new cases being diagnosed in UK women per year. The next most common cancer is ovarian with over 7,000 cases being diagnosed per year.
- What’s important is that women are aware of this and although they may not feel that they have any risk factors for cancer it is still a risk and they need to be aware of that.
- Cancer certainly is an increasing problem in the western world as well as other parts of the world. But it is important to know that it is one that we can treat and in a large number of patients we can also cure.
- There is not one specific cause for any of the types of cancer although there are a number of different risk factors. A lot of people think that hereditary issues are big with regards particularly to breast cancer although in less than 5% of cases are due to an inherited faulty genes. There are a number of other risk factors and one of the largest is actually age with nearly two thirds of patients being diagnosed after the age of 65. Other risk factors include lifestyle choices such as smoking and drinking alcohol as well as issues such as body weight.
- Although there are a number of different risk factors associated with cancer and female specific cancer what’s important to know is that in a large number of people who are diagnosed with cancer that no identifiable risk factor is found and these individuals are just unlucky.
- The important thing to remember with regards to a lot of cancer and particularly with a lot of female specific cancers is that the survival rates have been on the increase. We are continuing to develop a large number of new and different treatment therapies. This is important as the prognosis for these types of cancers generally is improving and I would certainly hope and expect that that would continue over the next few years.
- Although we can’t cure everyone certainly we can cure a large number of female specific types of cancer.
