Cancer figures - Prostate

An estimated 194,280 new cases of invasive breast cancer will occur in the United States this year -- taking the lives of 40,610 people.

How Common is Prostate Cancer?

It is the most common non-skin cancer in America, affecting 1 in 6 men. A non-smoking man is more likely to develop prostate cancer than he is to develop colon, bladder, melanoma, lymphoma and kidney cancers combined. In fact, a man is 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than a woman is to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

In 2009, more than 192,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and more than 27,000 men will die from the disease. One new case occurs every 2.7 minutes and a man dies from prostate cancer every 19 minutes.

It is estimated that there are more than 2 million American men currently living with prostate cancer.

How curable is prostate cancer?

As with all cancers, "cure" rates for prostate cancer describe the percentage of patients likely remaining disease-free for a specific time. In general, the earlier the cancer is caught, the more likely it is for the patient to remain disease-free.

Because approximately 90% of all prostate cancers are detected in the local and regional stages, the cure rate for prostate cancer is very high—nearly 100% of men diagnosed and treated at this stage will be disease-free after five years. By contrast, in the 1970s, only 67% of men diagnosed with local or regional prostate cancer were disease-free after five years.

Yet being diagnosed with prostate cancer can be a life-altering experience. It requires making some very difficult decisions about treatments that can affect not only the life of the man diagnosed, but also the lives of his family members in significant ways for many years to come.

Currently Recruiting Clinical Trials

New listing: Study of Immunotherapy to Treat Advanced Prostate Cancer
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is conducting a Phase 3 trial using a novel immunotherapy agent in patients with metastatic CRPC that have received prior treatment with docetaxel. Ipilimumab (anti CTLA-4) plus radiotherapy will be compared to placebo plus radiotherapy in this randomized, double-blind study, to determine if ipilimumab prolongs survival in men who have metastatic CRPC. This study is being conducted in over 50 centers across the USA and also in 24 other countries around the world. Click here for a list of additional open trials.

http://www.prostatecancerfoundation.org/