Prostate Cancer, Bone Metastasis And Mortality Rate
Good news first - the mortality rate of prostate cancer in the United States is dropping somewhat.
Back in the early 1990s, close to 40,000 men would die each year from the disease, down from a fatality rate that was even higher in the past.
In the year 2005, 30,000 men died due to prostate cancer, but this year only about 27,000 men may die - possibly even less.
Bad news - the rate of drop is too slow.
Although only about ten percent of the figure for the number of new diagnoses each year, this number still translates into thousands of families, and potentially millions of lives that are impacted by deaths from this disease in the United States.
Chilly news.
Considering that prostate cancer that is detected early can be treated and cured, it must mean then that those who die are those who did not get an early diagnosis.
This means that they had advanced prostate cancer before the detection, and since advanced prostate cancer cannot be cured, they could only be treated but not cured.
Advanced prostate cancer is characterized by a spread of the cancer through the bloodstream to invade various locations all over the body, a process known as metastasis.
Bone metastasis occurs when the cancer has reached and deposited malignant cells in the bones of the patient.
True to type, they simply hook up and continue to multiply uncontrollably, causing bone pain and usually a condition in which the bones of the patient fracture almost impulsively.
As the tumor grows in the bones, some parts of it thicken in density and other parts lighten up, causing regions of cold and hot spots.
Contrary to what most patients would think here, neither instance is favorable because they both contribute to the bone's breaking.
People with bone metastasis have the worst prognosis when it comes to survival and mortality rates.
Whereas early stage disease may be cured with a near perfect five year prognosis, and a ten year survival rate of about 93%, a man with bone metastasis is expected to have kicked the bucket after three years.
Due to any number of factors, which would likely include palliation, the patient may actually make it to eight years with the disease, but he is not expected to last much longer, short of with a miracle.
Efforts are being made to lower this mortality rate and they are actually meeting with a semblance of success.
However, there are not definitive results for those yet.
In the meantime, the best treatments continue to be given.
Back in the early 1990s, close to 40,000 men would die each year from the disease, down from a fatality rate that was even higher in the past.
In the year 2005, 30,000 men died due to prostate cancer, but this year only about 27,000 men may die - possibly even less.
Bad news - the rate of drop is too slow.
Although only about ten percent of the figure for the number of new diagnoses each year, this number still translates into thousands of families, and potentially millions of lives that are impacted by deaths from this disease in the United States.
Chilly news.
Considering that prostate cancer that is detected early can be treated and cured, it must mean then that those who die are those who did not get an early diagnosis.
This means that they had advanced prostate cancer before the detection, and since advanced prostate cancer cannot be cured, they could only be treated but not cured.
Advanced prostate cancer is characterized by a spread of the cancer through the bloodstream to invade various locations all over the body, a process known as metastasis.
Bone metastasis occurs when the cancer has reached and deposited malignant cells in the bones of the patient.
True to type, they simply hook up and continue to multiply uncontrollably, causing bone pain and usually a condition in which the bones of the patient fracture almost impulsively.
As the tumor grows in the bones, some parts of it thicken in density and other parts lighten up, causing regions of cold and hot spots.
Contrary to what most patients would think here, neither instance is favorable because they both contribute to the bone's breaking.
People with bone metastasis have the worst prognosis when it comes to survival and mortality rates.
Whereas early stage disease may be cured with a near perfect five year prognosis, and a ten year survival rate of about 93%, a man with bone metastasis is expected to have kicked the bucket after three years.
Due to any number of factors, which would likely include palliation, the patient may actually make it to eight years with the disease, but he is not expected to last much longer, short of with a miracle.
Efforts are being made to lower this mortality rate and they are actually meeting with a semblance of success.
However, there are not definitive results for those yet.
In the meantime, the best treatments continue to be given.
