Cancer outlook promising

This trend is noteworthy: The number of cancer deaths in the United States dropped two years running, according to the American Cancer Society. Experts say it could be the beginning of a promising trend.

Several factors are at work. Fewer Americans are smoking. Cancer detection, and treatment of certain cancers, has markedly improved. Some of the decrease could be attributed to some people adopting healthy lifestyles, meaning they have healthy diets and exercise regularly. The decline in deaths also may be tied to women abandoning menopausal hormone treatment after medical research linked it to a heightened risk of breast cancer.

All of it is good news. But this progress should not be overstated. Cancer deaths fell by 3,014 from 2003 to 2004. In the prior year, the deaths fell by 369. However, there were 553,888 cancer deaths in 2004, the latest year figures are available. There is ongoing need for research for more treatments that turn off cancer at the cellular level or alter cancer-causing genes.

Until then, Americans must adhere to cancer screening recommendations. With early detection, cancer can be addressed when it is most treatable. In the case of colorectal cancer, pre-cancerous polyps can be removed before they turn malignant.

Other prevention tools are vaccines that halt viruses that can lead to cancers such as liver cancer and cervical cancer.

Despite the significant amount of information that research has gleaned about the causes of cancer, prevention strategies, treatments and even cures, cancer death rates vary markedly among racial groups. Researchers are not fully sure why this occurs.

And while there never has been greater public access to information about cancer prevention, too many people are slow to change their lifestyle habits. Lung cancer, for instance, remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in United States. Some 160,390 lung cancer deaths are expected in 2007. Deaths among men have decreased while the number of lung cancer deaths among women is still rising slightly.

America's obesity problem, which can contribute to esophageal cancer, also portends problems.

Obviously, the trend of fewer cancer deaths should be celebrated. But it is one victory in what is an ongoing war in terms of increasing medical research and convincing more Americans to undergo screenings and embrace habits that improve the odds.