Five-year survival of prostate cancer greatly improved

The five-year survival rate of prostate cancer at Shanghai Cancer Center has reached 82.6 percent, much higher than the national average of 69.2 percent.

The rise of five-year survival, recovery in clinical term, is due to the adoption of multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment, screening for early-stage detection and improved medical skills, said Dr Ye Dingwei, vice president of Shanghai Cancer Center, the leading cancer hospital in the country.

The hospital conducted over 1,000 prostate cancer surgeries last year.

To improve patient management and diagnosis and treatment, the hospital has set up the nation’s first prostate cancer patient management database and online platform for long-distance consultation and discussion.

“We are pushing early screening for high risk groups,” Ye said. “The five-year survival rate is over 90 percent in the United States because of the wide adoption of early screening. About 95 percent of patients there in early stage, but only 50 to 60 percent of patients in China are early stage.”

During a screening trial last year, Ye’s team found some 30 cases among 2,500 high-risk residents.

“Men over 50 years old should be screened, while the age should be advanced to 45 for those with a family history of the disease,” he said.

Ti Gong