Cancer Research UK : Signs and symptoms of cancer: the evidence

Signs and symptoms of cancer: the evidence

It's a good idea to report persistent and unusual changes to your doctor.

This page contains information about the signs and symptoms of cancer. Click on the links below to read about specific topics.

Finding cancers early improves the chances of successful treatment
Early detection has improved survival
Symptoms of cancer

You can find out more about the evidence behind other health topics in our other How do we know? pages.

When cancers are found early they are nearly always easier to treat and cure

When a cancer first develops, it is normally small and found in one part of the body. At this stage, if the cancer is spotted, it can often be easily removed or treated. As time goes on, it grows bigger and can spread to other parts of the body. If this happens, in almost all cases a person’s chances of surviving that cancer are much lower 1,2.

Melanomas, a malignant form of skin cancer, are a good example of this. If melanomas are detected when they first develop, almost all patients will survive. However, if they are not detected, they will grow further into the skin and get thicker. Eventually, malignant cells may break away and travel to other parts of the body via the bloodstream or lymphatic system. For the thickest and most advanced melanomas, the chances that a patient will survive can fall as low as 1 in 4 3.

Survival rates for the most common cancers would also be greatly improved if they were caught early. A recent review estimated that almost all breast and prostate cancers and 90% of bowel cancers could be successfully treated if caught early 1.

Because of earlier detection, more people now survive cancer

The UK currently runs national screening programmes for the early detection of breast and cervical cancer. The impact of these screening programmes has been assessed in a number of studies.

For example, rates of cervical cancer have decreased rapidly since the NHS Cervical Screening Programme was set up, by around 7% a year 4. A Scottish research team found that survival from breast cancer improved by 11% between 1987 and 1993. They estimated that about half of this improvement was due to screening programmes 5.

Another Cancer Research UK study estimated that cervical screening has prevented an epidemic that would have killed about 6000 UK women every year 6.

You can find more information about the UK's national screening programmes in the Screening section of our website.

Some unusual changes may be signs of cancer

Our Signs and Symptoms page lists some changes that may be signs of cancer. This is based in part on the European Code Against Cancer 7. All of these symptoms can be caused by a variety of conditions, but occasionally, they could be a sign of cancer. If you spot any of these changes, you should consult your doctor as soon as you can.

References

Etzioni, R., et al., The case for early detection. Nat Rev Cancer, 2003. 3: p. 243-52.PubMed
National Cancer Institute. Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Program. 2002 Link
Sahin, S., et al., Predicting ten-year survival of patients with primary cutaneous melanoma: corroboration of a prognostic model. Cancer, 1997. 80: p. 1426-31.PubMed
Sasieni, P., J. Cuzick, and E. Farmery, Accelerated decline in cervical cancer mortality in England and Wales. Lancet, 1995. 346: p. 1566-7.PubMed
Thomson, C., et al., Improvements in survival for women with breast cancer in Scotland between 1987 and 1993: impact of earlier diagnosis and changes in treatment. Eur J Cancer, 2004. 40: p. 743-53.PubMed
Peto, J., et al., The cervical cancer epidemic that screening has prevented in the UK. Lancet, 2004. 364: p. 249-56.PubMed
Boyle, P., et al., European Code Against Cancer and scientific justification: third version (2003). Ann Oncol, 2003. 14(7): p. 973-1005.PubMed