February 6, 2024

expert reaction to King Charles’s cancer diagnosis

Scientists respond to news that King Charles has been diagnosed with cancer.

Professor Mieke Van Hemelrijck, Professor in Cancer Epidemiology at King’s College London said:

“Most people will have heard about prostate cancer as more than half of all prostate cancer cases occur in men aged 75 or older. However, lung and bladder cancer are also common in elderly men. Warning signs for lung cancer are probably more well known than those for bladder cancer. Common symptoms of lung cancer include, but are not limited to: persistent coughing, chest pain, coughing up blood or difficulties breathing. Bladder cancer is actually the 10th most common cancer worldwide, but public awareness is low. The most common symptom of bladder cancer is blood in your wee. Some of the other symptoms can be: urinary infections that don’t respond to antibiotics, pain when weeing, needing to wee frequently, and incontinence.”

Professor Lawrence Young, Professor of Molecular Oncology, University of Warwick, said:

“A cancer diagnosis is always worrying. Each year more than a third of all cancer cases in the UK are diagnosed in people aged 75 and over. The good news is that with improved diagnostic tests and treatments cancer survival has doubled over the last 50 years in the UK. Diagnosing cancer early provides the best chance of successful treatment and cure. The King’s openness about his cancer diagnosis raises the profile of this disease and emphasises the importance of early diagnosis.”

Declared interests

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