2:20pm UK, Monday October 10, 2005

Almost two-thirds of women with breast cancer are likely to survive for at least 20 years.

180 breast cancer check

More women than ever are expected to survive for longer

Experts say earlier diagnosis and the national breast cancer screening programme have both helped.

And they believe the future survival rate could be even better as new treatments such as Herceptin help boost women's chances of beating the disease.

Professor Tony Howell, Cancer Research UK consultant, said: "We want to say to women that this is just an incident in their life and they are not going to die.

"Most women with a diagnosis of breast cancer will die from something else."

Dr Richard Sullivan, director of clinical programme at Cancer Research UK, said it was "tremendous news" for breast cancer patients who had just been diagnosed.

He said: "This is the first time we have been able to predict such a huge improvement in long-term survival figures.

"Women diagnosed today have a much brighter future than those who faced breast cancer a generation ago."

Cancer Research UK researchers used statistics from the last 30 years to estimate that 64% of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer in England and Wales will live for at least 20 years - compared with 44% in the early 1990s.

More than seven out of 10 are now expected to survive for at least 10 years, compared with 54% diagnosed in the early 1990s.

And survival in women aged 50 to 69 - the age group most prone to the disease - has also risen.

Despite the good news - which includes a predicted rise in survival rates for younger women - more work is needed to reduce the inequalities between rich and poor in terms of treatment and survival.

Experts also say the UK needs to catch up with much of Western Europe in the treatment of cancer patients.