Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer diagnosed among men who live in the United States, with 174,650 men expected to be diagnosed in 2019. That estimate from the American Cancer Society accounts for over 25% of the three major cancers (rated in terms of mortality rates) that afflict males across all age groups.
First-time diagnoses of prostate cancer that have not spread to distant bones or lymph nodes have a relative cure rate that approaches 99%, according to the American Cancer Society.
Additional statistics from the American Cancer Society drive home the extended prevalence of prostate cancer, specifically:
- One in every nine men living in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime.
- Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer. One in every 41 men living in the United States will die of prostate cancer.
- The mortality rate of African-American men diagnosed with prostate cancer is nearly three times the rate of white males.
While prostate cancer is widespread, particularly among non-Latino Black men and men of all races and nationalities whose fathers and brothers have previously been diagnosed, it is not a death sentence. In fact, the good news is that more diagnosed men will live full lives with prostate cancer than die of it.
Regular check-ups and PSA screenings lead to early-stage detection, which expands the number of possible non-surgical treatment options available to a patient and his physicians. For an increasing number of men with small, localized, and slow-moving tumors, the favored treatment plan has become “active surveillance.” In these instances, radical and invasive procedures are delayed or avoided altogether in favor of patients being monitored regularly by doctors for signs of growth and/or progression in their cancers.
The majority of men with small localized, and slow-moving cancers now opt for “active surveillance” as their preferred treatment plan.
