Friday, Nov. 06, 1964
Latest Statistics
There was a little cheer but some chilling news in the latest statistics released by the American Cancer Society.
The overall number of cancer deaths is increasing slightly: 285,000 last year, 290,000 estimated in 1964, and 295,000 expected in 1965. Different kinds of cancer are increasing at different rates; lung cancer, once relatively rare, is rising fastest, and now for the first time displaces tumors of the colon and rectum as the most frequent cause of cancer death.
In 1965, predict the A.C.S. statisticians, 47,000 Americans (40,400 men and 6,600 women) will die of lung cancer, with 52,000 new cases expected to be diagnosed. Cancer of the colon and rectum is still more common, with 73,000 new cases anticipated, but less deadly -- 43,000 deaths expected. Even if lung cancer is detected before it has spread, only 21% of victims survive five years after surgery. If the cancer has already spread at the time of operation, the five-year survival rate drops to 5% .
The uterus used to be the most common site of fatal cancer in women. Today, thanks mainly to early detection with the Papanicolaou smear, it is far less deadly. "With 44,000 new cases expected next year, there will be an estimated 14,000 deaths. The A.C.S. believes that an annual "Pap" smear test for all 58 million women in the U.S.
would save most of these lives. So far, only about 28 million women have ever had a Pap test, and fewer than 10 million have one annually. Cancer of the breast, with 62,000 new cases and 26,000 deaths expected next year, has displaced uterine disease as the major cancer threat to women.
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