how to improve care?

Even though research is progressing, not all types of cancer offer the same prospects for survival. For so-called poor prognosis cancers which particularly affect the pancreas, liver, or lung, the outlook is bleaker than for other pathologies.

Thanks to advances in diagnosis and personalization of treatments, the chances of survival are improving for many cancer patients. Figures show that the survival rate now exceeds 80% for prostate, breast, melanoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia cancers. Unfortunately, for some tumors, around one in five, the outlook is bleaker with a survival rate of less than 30% at five years.

These include tumors that affect the pancreas, liver, or lung. Cholangiocarcinoma, cancer of the bile ducts suffered by Clémentine Vergnaud, journalist at franceinfo, died on December 23, is also one of those cancers for which, for the moment, medicine is less equipped.

More difficult detection

These cancers with a poor prognosis are less treatable. Firstly because for some of them, the absence of symptoms at the start makes detection of the disease difficult. Second, because there are only one or two medical treatment options at this stage. Surgery is often not possible for these tumors, because they are often advanced at the time of diagnosis. When we look at projections until 2040, taking into account the aging of the population, mortality should continue to fall for most tumors, but it will increase for cancers of the liver, pancreas, bile ducts, and certain brain tumors.

To improve the management of these cancers in the future. There is the route of chemotherapy but also that of targeted therapies and immunotherapy. When tumors are linked to a genetic anomaly on which we can act, we say “actionable”, which is the case more than one in four times, certain treatments working for other types of cancer carrying the same genetic anomaly can sometimes be successfully offered to patients. Furthermore, it is essential to continue research and clinical trials on new treatments. There are currently 133 clinical studies recruiting patients around the world for bile duct cancer alone. It’s a number that offers hope.