Are We Winning The War Against Cancer?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — On Tuesday, actress Shannen Doherty announced she has stage 4 breast cancer. The news comes one day after radio host Rush Limbaugh told listeners he has cancer too.
So, on this World Cancer Day, WCCO asked: Are we winning the war against cancer? Good Question.
"I think yes," director of the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Douglas Yee said. "All of the money we've put toward cancer research has turned into benefits."
For the first time in four years, life expectancy for Americans increased. The biggest reason behind this jump is that the death rates from cancer and drug overdoses have gone down. Death rates from cancer have been falling for 25 years and are now the lowest they've ever been.
"If we think about the most lethal form of cancer -- lung cancer -- we understand 90% of lung cancer is caused by smoking," Dr. Yee said. "Fewer people are smoking and we eventually see the death rate decreasing."
But he also points to advances in therapies and better earlier screenings like colonoscopies, mammograms and CT scans for lung cancers.
"When I started, there was one treatment for breast cancer," Dr. Yee said. "Now, there are 10, 15 20."
According to the American Cancer Society, death rates for lung cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma and breast cancer have fallen over the past two decades. But, the incidence of lymphoma, as well as the death rates for liver, pancreatic (in men) and uterine cancer have gone up.
"We don't have a good understanding why cancers of the uterus are going up again, there's a discussion about it being obesity driven, but it's not so clearly pegged," Dr. Yee said. "Even though I said that, even if obesity is pegged to cancer risk, we don't know exactly how."
He says while research has helped make huge advances, much more needs to be done. He also points to another huge problem -- people of color who are less likely to be included in clinical trials, and those with less access to health care have higher death rates.
"I believe that cancer is a disease that if we put more money in it, it would go away," Dr. Yee said.
