Law and Order’s Jerry Orbach passes away from prostate cancer

Some statistics from the American Cancer Society:

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer, excluding skin cancers, in American men. The American Cancer Society estimates that during 2004 about 230,110 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the US. About 1 man in 6 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, but only 1 man in 33 will die of this disease.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, exceeded only by lung cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that 29,900 men in the US will die of prostate cancer during 2004. Prostate cancer accounts for about 10% of cancer-related deaths in men.

* Among men diagnosed with prostate cancer, 98% survive at least 5 years, 84% survive at least 10 years, and 56% survive at least 15 years. These figures include all stages and grades of prostate cancer but do not account for men who die from other causes. In other words, many of the men who died before 15 years, died from causes other than prostate cancer.

* About 86% of all prostate cancers are found in the local and regional stages (local means it is still confined to the prostate; regional means it has spread from the prostate to nearby areas, but not to distant sites such as other organs). The 5-year relative survival rate for all of these men is nearly 100%.

* Of the men whose prostate cancers have already spread to distant parts of the body at the time of diagnosis, 34% will survive at least 5 years.