Renewed focus needed for treatment of some adolescent cancers

Although progress in survival trends for brain cancer, lung cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, and colon and rectum cancers in adolescents has been made over the last 40 years, new research shows that minimal progress has been made in female breast, bone, ovarian, and cervical cancers.

In the study published in the journal Cancer, the authors examined the incidence, mortality, and survival in patients diagnosed between the ages of 15 to 39 years with these types of cancers. There appeared to be significant improvements in bain and other nervous system tumors, colon and rectum cancer, lung and bronchus cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma 5-year relative survival rates.

Overall survival trends for female breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, and bone and joint sarcomas had limited or no improvement.

Reference
Lewis DR, Siembida EJ, Seibel NL, et al. Survival outcomes for cancer types with the highest death rates for adolescents and young adults, 1975-2016. Cancer. 2021;doi: 10.1002/cncr.33793. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34308557.