Cancer wouldn't be deadly in the next 20 years, say UK expert

London, May 15 (ANI): While the rate of cancer survival has been improving day-by-day, a British expert reckons that cancer will no longer be a killer in the next 20 years.

Karol Sikora, professor of Cancer Medicine at Imperial College London, has said that the treatments for the disease are undergoing a "revolution", which means that within just two decades, "we will simply run out of things from which to die."

And rather than facing a possible death sentence, cancer patients will be treated as if they have a long-term illness like diabetes, heart disease or asthma.

Sikora said that better technologies, better delivery systems to treat the disease, and financial constraints are expected in the near future.

And as improved cancer care leads to better survival rates, higher prevalence of the disease in our populations will lead to greater societal pressures as people will be expecting much more from medicine.

"Within 20 years cancer will be a chronic disease, joining conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma," the Daily Express quoted Sikora as saying.

"These conditions impact on the way people live and do not inexorably lead to death.

"The model of prostate cancer, where many men die with it rather than from it, will be common for most cancers.

"Even greater progress will be made in understanding myriad causes of cancer," Silora added.

A report authored by Sikora appears on scripnews.com, published by Informa Pharma. (ANI)