FAQs - HCPs

We define the deadliest blood cancers as blood cancer diagnoses where the 5-year survival rate is below 50%. These include, but are not limited to, cancers where outcomes are poor across the entire disease, such as AML, CMML, MDS and adult ALL, as well as recognised high-risk subtypes and patient groups with similarly poor outcomes, including high-risk myeloma and older people diagnosed with certain blood cancers.

The statistic is based on analysing survival data for blood cancers where the 5-year survival rate is below 50%. This includes cancers where outcomes are poor across the entire disease, such as AML, CMML, MDS and adult ALL, as well as recognised high-risk subtypes and patient groups with similarly poor outcomes, including high-risk myeloma and older people diagnosed with certain blood cancers. Using all this data, we estimate 5-year survival for these groups to be 1 in 3. 

We’ll be announcing our plans to change the odds for people with the deadliest blood cancers very soon and we’d love for you to be involved. Sign up to here more [link to come].

Blood Cancer UK is committed to funding research across all blood cancers. Our core funding schemes represent our sustained investment in research to bring forward the day where no one dies from blood cancer or its treatments, including the deadliest blood cancers that are not being funded as part of this appeal.

These funding schemes fund blood cancer research that addresses the priorities of our Research Strategy. By funding research across the research pipeline, better and kinder treatments can be developed for the deadliest blood cancers and be tested in trials in the future. We are also supporting and developing the talented blood cancer researchers who will keep working to improve outcomes for these diseases.

Research has transformed survival for many cancers. By highlighting the progress made in better known cancers such as breast and prostate cancer, we are showing what sustained investment and innovative clinical trials can achieve and the scale of progress that is still needed for the deadliest blood cancers.

We recognise that survival varies significantly within every cancer type, and some people with breast or prostate cancer still face very poor outcomes. The comparison is not intended to minimise anyone’s experience or suggest that one cancer matters more than another.

We want people with the deadliest blood cancers to benefit from the same kind of progress that research has helped make possible elsewhere.

Cancer survival statistics are complex, and no comparison between different types of cancer is completely like for like

While overall survival for breast and prostate cancer is high, there are some subgroups of patients who have poorer survival, such as those diagnosed with stage 4 disease, high-grade prostate cancer or triple negative breast cancer.

Prostate cancer survival should be interpreted with caution. Although the 9 in 10 figure is accurate for current prostate cancer survival the impact of PSA testing and diagnosis of less aggressive tumours / those that would not have been fatal in someone's lifetime perhaps inflates this survival [1].

There are a number of explanations for high survival / improvements in survival over time including screening programmes, diagnosing cancers at an earlier stage and treatment improvements. There have been improvements in treatment for breast and prostate cancer over time e.g. the development of paclitaxel and trastuzumab for breast cancer and the STAMPEDE trial showing survival benefit of docetaxel and abiraterone for prostate cancer. However, screening and potential improvements in early diagnosis are also likely to have contributed to improvements in survival.

The survival figures we are using are non-age standardised. Survival tends to be higher in younger age groups and so the age distribution of cases for different cancer sites could also contribute to differences in survival

We also recognise that some people with cancers that have high overall survival rates, such as breast or prostate cancer, still face very poor outcomes. The comparison is not intended to minimise anyone’s experience or create competition between different cancers.

Instead, it helps demonstrate the progress that research has made possible for some cancers, while survival for the deadliest blood cancers has not improved at the same pace. We want to see similar progress for people affected by these blood cancers.

Where we make comparisons, we use the best available evidence and clearly explain the statistics and their sources.

[1] Incidence, Prevalence, and Survival of Prostate Cancer in the UK - PMC and Trends over 48 years in a one-number index of survival for all cancers combined, England and Wales (1971–2018): a population-based registry study - The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.