Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Week aims to increase the visibility of six statistically less survivable cancers: lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal and stomach. Despite the remarkable progress of other cancers, survival rates for these six has remained low for the last 40 years.

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Early diagnosis is key to effective treatment planning and improved patient outcomes. To help raise awareness, we’re sharing the common symptoms for each of these cancers.

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Around 9,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with oesophageal cancer each year making it one of the highest oesophageal cancer incidence rates in Europe. Despite this, only a small percentage of people surveyed could correctly identify the symptoms.

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Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, with almost 2.5 million cases (1 in 8 cancers) and 1.8 million deaths (1 in 5 deaths)

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Around 6,600 people in the UK are diagnosed with primary liver cancer each year. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer.

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In the UK, around 13,000 people are diagnosed with brain cancer each year, including primary brain and central nervous system tumours. Brain cancer can affect anyone at any age.

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The risk of developing stomach cancer increases with age, over half of people who develop it are 75 or older. It's also more common in men than women. Risk factors include gender, age, smoking and diet.

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Pancreatic cancer can be difficult to diagnose early, because symptoms rarely show until the cancer has already spread to other organs. For more than half of these patients, their diagnosis often comes too late, reducing their treatment options and chances of a positive prognosis. PLEASE NOTE: These symptoms could have more common causes.

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Early diagnosis is vital for effective treatment and improved patient outcomes and we support with fast access to appointments and quick turnaround on results. We're proud to be at the forefront of PET-CT, CT and MRI diagnostics and we're continually investing in innovative research and development to advance our imaging capabilities. As a trusted NHS partner, we're helping to reduce patient waiting lists for scans and improve access to life-saving diagnostics across the UK.