Prostate cancer is the most common cancer, excluding skin cancers, in American men. The American Cancer Society estimates during 2001 approximately 198,100 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. One man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, but only one man in 30 will die of this disease. African-American men are more likely to have prostate cancer than white or Asian men are.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States, exceeded only by lung cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that 31,500 men in the United States will die of prostate cancer during 2001. Prostate cancer accounts for about 11% of male cancer-related deaths.

• Ninety-three percent of all men diagnosed with prostate cancer survive at least 5 years, and 72% survive at least 10 years. These figures include all stages of prostate cancer.
  
  

• At least 70% of all prostate cancers are found while they are still localized (confined to the prostate). The 5-year relative survival rate for men with localized prostate cancer is nearly 100%.
  
  

• Twelve percent of prostate cancers have already spread to tissues near the prostate when they are first diagnosed. The 5-year relative survival rate for men whose prostate cancer has spread regionally is about 94%.
  
  

• Of the 9% of men whose prostate cancers have already spread to distant parts of the body at the time of diagnosis, 33% will survive at least 5 years.

Five-year and 10-year survival rates refer to the percentage of men who live at least 5 or 10 years after their prostate cancer is first diagnosed. Relative survival rates exclude patients dying of other diseases. This means that anyone who died of another cause, such as heart disease, is not counted. Because prostate cancer usually occurs in older men who often have other health problems, relative survival rates are generally used to produce a standard way of discussing prognosis (outlook for survival).

Unfortunately, it is impossible to have completely up-to-date survival figures. To realistically measure 10-year survival rates, we must have records of patients diagnosed at least 13 years ago. We need 10 years of follow-up plus the time it takes to assemble the data. The death rate from prostate cancer has been decreasing and men are being diagnosed earlier. This means that if you are diagnosed this year, your prognosis is probably better than the numbers above.