The person who received the cancer diagnosis People are living longer than ever before, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Decades of cancer research have led to more effective treatments for cancer, and cancer is “becoming a treatable chronic disease rather than a death sentence,” says the 75th Annual Cancer Statistics Report.
The five-year survival rate for cancer in the United States was 50% in the mid-1970s and is now 70%.
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The researchers said these improvements reflect advances in treatment and early diagnosis, and also recognize the importance of breast cancer and breast cancer screening. prostate cancer It has contributed to the survival rate.
“For example, the development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors has improved survival in some types of leukemia, allowing most patients to maintain a near-normal life expectancy,” the researchers said in a press release.
The ACS report found improved five-year survival rates for certain types of cancer. For example, survival rates for liver cancer jumped from 7% in the 1990s to 22% in 2023, and survival rates for lung cancer increased from 15% to 28%. myeloma survival It rose from 32% to 62%.
“Survival rates have improved for patients with local-stage disease (when the tumor has spread to nearby organs from where it started) and distant-stage disease (when the tumor has spread to organs further away from its starting point),” the group added.
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“In fact, the relative survival rate for all distant cancers combined has doubled from 17% in the mid-1990s to 35% for those diagnosed between 2015 and 2021.”
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Calvin Chao, medical vice president of Altera California, said the five-year survival rate of 70% is “a clear sign of progress in cancer treatment; Just the statistics Tell only part of the story. ”
“Many factors contribute to these improved outcomes, but one of the most important is the use of personalized, clinically validated approaches that leverage predictive insights to guide treatment,” he continued.
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“These previously inaccessible insights can help clinicians identify specific treatments that are likely to provide the most benefit for each patient, as well as specific treatments that may have little benefit.”
Chao emphasized the importance of avoiding treatments that “provide no benefit” to patients and reducing unnecessary side effects. novel treatment method For patients who are “obviously effective.”
Dr. Yvonne Estrin, a breast radiologist at Pembroke Pink, weighed in on these findings and agreed that advances in treatment are “playing a huge role in this progress.”
“But so are early detection and improved testing guidelines,” she told FOX News Digital. “For example, mammography annual mammogram We are now detecting breast cancer at a very early, treatable stage starting at age 40. This leads to reduced morbidity and mortality. ”
The ACS noted that despite the increase in life expectancy, there will still be an estimated 2.1 million new cancer cases in 2026 and approximately 5,800 cancer diagnoses each day.
For women, breast cancer Lung cancer is diagnosed more than twice as often as the second most common cancer. Liver cancer, melanoma, and uterine cancer are also on the rise among women.
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The incidence of prostate cancer continues to rise in men, who are now twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as the second-ranked men. lung cancer. According to the ACS, oral cancer and pancreatic cancer are on the rise in both men and women.
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Cancer remains the most common cause of death for American men ages 60 to 79 and women ages 40 to 79. heart diseasecancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States.
The ACS estimates that 626,140 people will die from cancer in the United States in 2026, or approximately 1,720 deaths per day. Most of these causes are lung cancer, followed by lung cancer. colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer.
However, mortality rates have mostly decreased. Since its peak in 1991, cancer death rates have decreased by 34%, and approximately 4.8 million cancer deaths will have been prevented by 2023, the ACS reports.
especially, Number of lung cancer deaths It has decreased by 62% for men since 1990 and by 38% for women since 2002.
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Among men, death rates from prostate cancer have decreased by 53% since 1993, and colorectal cancer incidence has decreased by 55% between 1980 and 2023.
Breast cancer mortality among women decreased by 44% between 1989 and 2023.
