International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

A huge improvement in adult cancer survivorship has been witnessed in the last three decades, it has been claimed.

Dr Diana Greenfield, test centre leader at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield, UK, said that while the initial focus of doctors has been on "active treatment" to fight the disease, because cancer doctors are working so efficiently and effectively with their teams, survival is now firmly "on the agenda".

She was commenting as a project designed to gain greater insight into the problems faced by cancer survivors was launched by researchers at the University of Sheffield in conjunction with the North Trent Cancer Network.

They say that although advances in medical science are allowing more people to live longer with cancer, too little is currently done to support patients during this variable period of survivorship.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 120,600 new cancers were recorded among females during 2006.

Of these, breast cancer accounted for 32 per cent of cases.