Now, 4 in 5 people diagnosed with skin cancer will live

London: Over 80 percent of people battling malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, will now survive the disease, new research has revealed.

Cancer Research UK scientists have asserted that there is a "massive improvement" in 10-year survival rates since the early 1970s, when a person`s odds of surviving the disease were more or less 50-50. From that time on, researchers have come up with new methods to treat the disease amid better awareness of the symptoms. Meanwhile, 13,000 cases of melanoma are diagnosed each year in the UK and in 2010 is caused 2,200 deaths. Additionally, 10,000 were diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer, which lead to 546 deaths. Dr Harpal Kumar, the head of Cancer Research UK, said that the rise is likely to be down to our sunbathing habits and the introduction of cheap package holidays in previous decades. ANI