Prostate cancer deaths are expected to jump 17%: 2010 statistics

ZERO - The Project to End Prostate CancerJun 16 2010

Testing Debate to Blame as Mortality Hits 10 Year High

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.