Health@Heart
The Ravages of Cancer
The discovery that one has cancer is a most devastating life experience. And the shattering event and desolation go even deeper because this usually deadly malady adversely affects, not only the patient, but the entire family and its future.
I am sure many of us have lost some friends or even loved ones to cancer. Prior to Christmas this year, five of my friends, three of them physicians, have been diagnosed to have cancer (prostate, lung, liver, ovary, colon) and all five are presently undergoing treatment. The depredation and havoc on their mind this unfortunate event has caused are too complex for us, who are luckier, to truly comprehend and fully appreciate. While we can perhaps guess what they are going through in these desperate moments in their lives, the realities are much more serious, more personal and much more complicated that what's apparent.
Indeed, cancer ravages the lives of the victims, which also includes the family and the community. The recent introduction of Gardasil, a most effective vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, is the light at the end of the tunnel the whole world was waiting for. While researches are ongoing around the world to discover new, more effective, less toxic and safer drugs to fight cancer, the scientific community is intent on discovering vaccines to prevent each and every cancer known to man. When that time comes, cancer will be a much more tamed disease, like influenza today, and may even be eradicated from the surface of the earth, like the once most dreaded pandemic killer of millions, smallpox.
Today, there are great studies and statistics that show that cancer death rates are dropping, and that the incidence of some cancers are also lower, thanks to our knowledge about healthier lifestyle and to the modern advancement in medical diagnostic and therapeutic sciences.
The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2003, was published in the October 15, 2006, issue of Cancer, and it stated "the nation's leading cancer organizations finds that Americans' risk of dying from cancer continues to drop, maintaining a trend that began in the early 1990s. However, the rate of new cancers remains stable. The report includes comprehensive data on trends over the past several decades for all major cancers. It shows that the long-term decline in overall cancer death rates continued through 2003 for all races and both sexes combined."
The studies showed that death rates "decreased for 11 of the 15 most common cancers in men and for 10 of the 15 most common cancers in women." The researchers explained the decrease in death rates, in part, "to successful efforts to reduce exposure to tobacco, earlier detection through screening, and more effective treatment."
"The greater decline in cancer death rates among men is due in large part to their substantial decrease in tobacco use. We need to enhance efforts to reduce tobacco use in women so that the rate of decline in cancer death rates becomes comparable to that of men," said Betsy A. Kohler, President of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, Inc (NAACCR).
The report also stated that the "overall cancer incidence rates (the rate at which new cancers are diagnosed) for both sexes and all races combined have been stable from 1992 through 2003…Overall rates for men were stable from 1995 through 2003, while rates for women increased from 1979 through 2003. Also, the data suggest a small increase in the female lung cancer incidence rate from 1991 through 2003, which is a much slower rate of increase than in prior years." The Annual Report revealed the following:
Among women, incidence rates decreased for:
* colon and rectum cancers and cancers of the uterus (1998 to 2003, the most recent time period studied)
* ovarian cancer (1985 to 2003)
* oral cancers (1980 to 2003)
* stomach and cervical cancers (since at least 1975)
Among men, incidence rates have:
* decreased for colon and rectum cancers (1998 to 2003)
* decreased for stomach and oral cancers (since at least 1975)
* decreased for lung cancer (1982 to 2003)
* increased for prostate cancer (1995 to 2003)
* increased for myeloma, leukemia, cancers of the liver, kidney and esophagus (since at least 1975).
First issued in 1998, the "Annual Report to the Nation" is a collaboration among the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It provides updated information on cancer rates and trends in the United States.
"We are continuing to make progress in our fight against cancer," said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, M.D. "However, we can't become complacent. We must continue to fight to ensure that resources are available to address the importance of prevention, screening, and early detection, and promoting healthy behaviors which are proven strategies to reduce the burden of cancer."
While the general outcome of cancer treatment in general is still bleak, there are encouraging signs in the horizon that provide us hope that someday most forms of cancer, if not all, may be effectively prevented by vaccines and a healthy lifestyle.