MedifocusHealth

The most common cancer in men in the United States, prostate cancer accounts for 33% of all newly diagnosed malignancies among men in the United States.

The American Cancer Society estimates that during 2006 about 234,460 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States.

Approximately 17% of men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, but only 3% will die of it.

Over 1.8 million men in the United States are survivors of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men (lung cancer is the leading cause of death).

The American Cancer Society estimates that 27,350 men in the United States will die of prostate cancer in 2006.

Prostate cancer accounts for about 10% of cancer-related deaths in men.

Over 90% percent of all prostate cancers are found in the local and regional stages

• the term local means that the cancer is still confined to the prostate gland and has not spread to nearby areas.
• the term regional means that the cancer has spread from the prostate to nearby areas (e.g., bladder; rectum), but has not spread to distant sites, such as bone.
• the 5-year relative survival rate for these men is nearly 100%.

The 5-year relative survival rate for men whose prostate cancers have already spread to distant parts of the body at the time of diagnosis is about 34%.

African Americans have among the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world (275.3 per 100,000 men).

The highest incidence rates of prostate cancer are found in the United States, Canada, and Scandinavia. The lowest rates are found in China and other parts of Asia.