The National Cancer Center of South Korea says 470-thousand cancer patients visited domestic hospitals in 2005.

The center added that the total cost of treatment for these patients came to 14-point-one trillion won, or eleven-point-four billion U.S. dollars.

Twenty-seven percent of the patients who visited hospitals for cancer treatment were in their 60s, which was the highest ratio for any age group. People in their 60s were followed by patients in their 50s and then 70s.

Gastric cancer was the most prevalent type of cancer treated, accounting for 19 percent of patients, followed by cancers of the colon, breasts and thyroid, in that order.

The center's research team stressed prevention and early diagnosis to reduce cancer-related financial costs.

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