The national cancer program

Abstract

The control of cancer is an elusive, different goal, but there is steady and meaningful progress. The 5 yr survival rate for cancer patients in the 1930s was about one in 5. Today the figure is one in 3. On the basis of 5 yr survival, about 218,000 Americans will be saved from cancer this year. About 1.5 million Americans are alive and free of cancer 5 yr after treatment, and an additional 700,000 cancer patients diagnosed and treated within the last 5 yr will live to join these ranks.