Around 290 people in Ireland are diagnosed with cancer of the brain every year and there has been little improvement in survival rates over the last 20 years, a new report has found.

The report by the National Cancer Registry of Ireland (NCRI) analysed the current trends relating to malignant primary tumours of the brain. Around 290 such tumours are diagnosed annually, which is just under 2% of all invasive cancers in this country.

The disease is more commonly diagnosed in men than in women and the average age at the time of diagnosis is 60 years.

The report noted that astrocytic tumours are the most common subtype of brain cancer, accounting for two in three cases. The majority of these, particularly in adults, ‘are high-grade, generally highly fatal, glioblastomas', the NCRI noted.

The report pointed out that incidence rates for primary brain cancers remained more or less the same over the 20-year period 1994-2013. Meanwhile, average survival rates are ‘poor' and the average five-year survival rate ‘remains unchanged at 19%'.

Glioblastoma and other high-grade astrocytic tumours have the poorest survival rates, with just 4% of patients surviving the five years after their diagnosis.

These incidence and mortality rates are similar to those reported in the EU overall.

"Malignant brain cancers include some of the most highly fatal cancers of all, and there has been little evidence of any overall improvement in survival over the course of the 20 years covered by the NCRI.

"However, the prognosis for patients with some subtypes is more favourable, and other encouraging findings include improvements in treatment and no increase in the overall rate of brain cancer compared with earlier years," commented NCRI interim director, Dr Harry Comber.

The report can be viewed here