Breast cancer patients' survival rate increases: Austrian experts

The survival rate of women with advanced stages of breast cancer has increased, due in large part to advances in molecular biology research, Austrian experts said Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference in Vienna ahead of the World Cancer Day, which falls on Feb. 4 this year, Guenther Steger, a breast cancer specialist from the Vienna General Hospital, said the use of modern drugs together with chemotherapy increased the average survival rate of women with advanced stages of HER2-Positive breast cancer from a previous 12 to 18 months to four to five years.

Additionally, the success rate of completely eradicating such tumours in women prior to surgery is currently between 70 and 80 percent, according to the expert.

Similar progress has also been made in Hormone Receptor-Positive breast cancer, one of the most common forms of breast cancer, with new treatments considerably delaying the necessity of chemotherapy.

Wolfgang Hibbe, a lung cancer specialist from the Wilhelminen Hospital in Vienna, said positive developments in terms of buying more time for patients have also occurred in his field.

"In stage IV of a lung cancer condition the average life expectancy used to be nine months with only 30 percent of patients surviving a year," he said.

Advancements through a new medication mean the average life expectancy has increased to 24 months, with 70 percent of patients still alive after one year, he added. Enditem