"On Tuesday the American Cancer Society (ACS) released its annual report on cancer statistics in the U.S., and it offered a rare bit of good news: the proportion of people who were alive at least five years after a cancer diagnosis hit a record high. The report found that, among all cancer patients diagnosed between 2015 and 2021 in the U.S., the survival rate at the five-year mark relative to those who didn't have cancer was 70 percent."
"The five-year relative survival rate for myeloma (a type of cancer that affects bone marrow), for instance, nearly doubled between the 1990s and now, jumping from 32 to 62 percent, while liver cancer survival more than tripled from 7 to 22 percent. In part, that's because of greater understanding of the cancer genome and the development of targeted therapies against cancer mutations."
Among U.S. cancer patients diagnosed from 2015–2021, five-year relative survival reached 70 percent compared with people without cancer, the highest rate recorded by the American Cancer Society. Seven in ten people now survive their cancer at least five years, up from about 50 percent in the mid-1970s. Gains reflect better detection, improved treatments including targeted therapies driven by understanding the cancer genome, and reductions in smoking. Some high-fatality cancers saw large gains: myeloma rose from 32 to 62 percent and liver cancer from 7 to 22 percent. Many patients now live with metastatic cancer for years, transforming some cancers into chronic conditions.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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