Prostate Cancer Deaths Up 17 Percent

Testing Debate to Blame as Mortality Hits 10 Year High

WASHINGTON, June 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Prostate cancer deaths are expected to jump 17 percent this year, according to estimates based on National Cancer Institute data.

The alarming 2010 statistics, just prior to Father's Day, has ZERO – The Project to End Prostate Cancer urging families to encourage Dad to get tested for the disease this Father's Day because prostate cancer is the second leading cancer among American men.

"If prostate cancer is diagnosed before it spreads, a patient has a 99 percent survival rate for five years," ZERO COO Jamie Bearse said. "You can only diagnose cancer early through annual testing. This is the sad result of the PSA controversy created by the American Cancer Society and the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force. We need a better biomarker for the disease to distinguish slow growing tumors from deadly ones but in the meantime, we need to keep testing."

The new numbers predict a 17 percent jump in deaths and a more than 13 percent rise in diagnosed cases this year as compared to 2009.  It marks the greatest percentage increase since the mid-1990s.

*Predicted Number of Cases

Source: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)

"The American Cancer Society claims it's the official sponsor of birthdays, but it is condemning more men to their funerals because of the stance against the PSA test," said Bearse. "It's not too late, however, and we can change these predictions. Encourage your Dad to get tested and give him the gift of life this Father's Day."  

For more information – please contact Ashley Nagaoka at [email protected]

SOURCE ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer

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