Cancer cases increasing by 3% a year
Cancer cases increased almost 3% every year since the mid 1990s, it emerged tonight.
The hike is due to the country’s ageing and growing population, according to the National Cancer Registry’s 1994-2005 review.
It said the risk of developing the potentially fatal condition, while small, continues to increase, but death rates remain the same as those in 1994 and the risk of dying is dropping by 1.5% annually.
Prostate cancer was the most prevalent form of the illness for men, with numbers diagnosed growing 7% annually.
Kidney, uterus, breast and lung cancers were the most common forms of the condition in women.
This comes as health watchdogs announced a review of centres providing breast cancer services nationwide, after concerns were expressed over facilities in Portlaoise and Limerick in the past week.
“There is no single explanation for these trends,” a National Cancer Registry spokesman said.
“Of concern is the continuing upward trend in lung cancer in women, which is due to smoking.
“Equally worrying are the trends in melanoma of the skin, which is related to sun exposure.
“It is striking that a number of these cancers, those of the kidney, breast and uterus, have all been linked to excess weight and obesity, which are rapidly increasing in Ireland,” he said.
The Registry said the hike in prostate cancer diagnosis was down to the use of PSA blood tests, widely used by health professionals to detect the condition.
The risk of dying from most cancers is falling, but for melanoma of the skin, cancer of the kidney, in men, and cancer of the rectum, the risks are increasing.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) announced it plans to review centres providing breast cancer services across the state.
It comes after Barringtons Hospital in Limerick was last week ordered to suspend its breast cancer treatment services after concerns were raised about the care given to at least 10 patients.
It is expected that at least 1,000 other cases dealt with by the hospital will also be reviewed in the course of an investigation ordered by Health Minister Mary Harney.
Thousands of scans carried out on breast cancer patients who attended Portlaoise’s Midland Regional Hospital over an almost four-year period are also to be reviewed, it emerged yesterday
HIQA Chief Executive Dr Tracey Cooper said: “In light of recent events that have given rise to anxiety and concern regarding the quality of symptomatic breast disease services in Ireland, it is important that we can assure that, regardless of where a woman receives care for symptomatic breast disease, she is receiving the highest quality of care as laid out in the standards.
“It is also important to reassure people that there are a number of high quality facilities already providing this level of care within Ireland and a quality review programme will ensure that this is the case across the country,” she said.
