The Basics

What is Cancer?
Cancer is a large group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. If the spread is not controlled or checked, it results in death. However, many cancers can be cured if detected and treated promptly and many others can be prevented by lifestyle changes,especially avoidance of tobacco.

Who gets Cancer?
Cancer strikes at any age. It kills more children from birth to age 14 in California than any other disease. Among adults it occurs more frequently with advancing age.

How many new cases will there be this year?
In 2007, about 133,225 Californians will be diagnosed as having cancer.This estimate does not include non-melanoma skin cancer and carcinoma in situ for sites other than bladder. This is equivalent to more than 15 new cases every hour of every day.

Is cancer the leading cause of death?
In California, cancer is the second-leading cause of death in 2003, accounting for 23 percent of all deaths in 2003. Heart disease, the leading cause, accounted for 29 percent of deaths.

How many people are surviving Cancer?
In the early 1900s, few cancer patients had any hope of long-term survival. in the 1930s, less than one in five was alive five years after treatment. In the 1940s it was one in four, and in the 1960s it was one in three.
Today, more than 79,000 Californians who get cancer this year will be alive five years after diagnosis.When normal life expectancy is taken into consideration (factors such as dying of heart disease, accidents, and diseases of old age), a"relative" five-year survival rate of 59 percent is seen for all cancers combined.The relative survival rate is commonly used to measure progress in the early detection and treatment of cancer and estimates the proportion of cancer patients potentially curable.

Could more people be saved?
All cancers caused by tobacco and heavy use of alcohol can be prevented completely. American Cancer Society estimates that in 2007 over 18,000 lives will be lost to cancer in California because of tobacco use. About 1,860 cancer deaths were related to excessive alcohol use, frequently in combination with tobacco use.
Early diagnosis saves lives by identifying cancers when they are most curable. Five-year relative survival rates for common cancers such as breast, prostate, colon and rectum, cervix, and melanoma of the skin are 90 to 95 percent if they are discovered before having spread beyond the organ where the cancer began. Following American Cancer Society Cancer detection guidelines and encouraging other to do so can save your life or the lives of people you love.