Majority of Aussie lung cancer cases diagnosed late: data

CANBERRA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Less than 20 percent of Australian lung cancer patients are diagnosed at an early stage, data has revealed.

In a first for the organization, Cancer Australia on Thursday released figures about which cancers are identified early and which are not.

They revealed that lung cancer was the worst for early diagnoses with just 18 percent detected in that stage.

Comparatively, 92 percent of melanomas were diagnosed early, as were 82 percent of prostate cancers and 77 percent of female breast cancers.

It was also found that cancers were more likely to be found late among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than the non-indigenous community.

Helen Zorbas, CEO of Cancer Australia, said that the data was a "major leap forward" in cancer control and would be used to improve survival rates.

"The data will help us explore the relationship between cancer stage at diagnosis and survival outcomes, and the role of public health initiatives, early detection and awareness campaigns," Zorbas told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) on Thursday.

Cancer Australia in November 2017 called on the Australian governments to prioritize making biomarker tests for the deadliest types.

A biomarker is a molecule produced by the body or the cancer that can inform diagnosis and predict a cancer's response to different treatments.

Bowel cancers also had a poor early diagnosis rate at 46 percent but that figure was higher for people aged over 50 -- a fact that Zorbas said proved the national bowel screening program was working.

"Participants in the bowel cancer screening program tended to have less advanced cancers," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"I think there's strong data that indicates the benefit of screening." Enditem