The five-year survival rate for male and female patients in Japan who were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer between 2012 and 2015 came to 10.7% and 10.2%, respectively, the lowest among all cancer types except for childhood cancers, the National Cancer Center said in a survey report on Tuesday.
By cancer type, for men, the five-year survival rate was the highest at 94.3% for prostate cancer, followed by 90.9% for skin cancer and 88.6% for thyroid cancer.
For women, the rate was 92.7% for thyroid cancer, 92.4% for skin cancer and 88.7% for breast cancer.
The latest survey covered some 2.54 million patients, using data from 44 prefectures that met international standards. The areas and the number of cases surveyed increased from the previous survey, which covered some 590,000 patients diagnosed between 2009 and 2011 in 22 prefectures.
Survival rates also varied significantly by stage. In the combined analysis for men and women without metastasis, the five-year survival rate stood at 92.4% for stomach cancer and 92.3% for colorectal cancer. Conversely, the rates declined when metastasis occurred to distant organs — to 6.3% for stomach cancer and 16.8% for colorectal cancer.
In an analysis of survival rate trends since 1993, the center confirmed improvements for malignant lymphoma and multiple myeloma in both men and women. On the other hand, no significant improvement was seen for pancreatic cancer, with survival rates staying at low levels.
The center adopted net survival rates for the latest survey report, which are calculated by excluding causes of death other than cancer.
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