Colon cancer

Abstract

The implementation of a screening process combined with advances in surgical techniques and chemotherapy has contributed to a nearly one-third decrease in the incidence of and the mortality from colorectal cancer over the past two decades. The decrease in incidence and mortality is primarily a result of an effective screening process for colon cancer. However, colorectal cancer remains the third most common and third most fatal cancer in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 140,000 people were diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2011 and that nearly 50,000 people died from the disease.