OVERALL STATE OF THE SCIENCE -
From the Report of the Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma Progress
Review Group May 2001 full
text
"Despite advances in diagnosis
and treatment and improvements in patient survival, the hematologic
cancers continue to have a significant impact on the lives of
Americans.
Right now, almost 700,000 Americans are living with
leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma (LLM), and an estimated 100,000 new
cases occur each year. Although mortality has declined and 5-year
survival rates have increased among adults and children with certain
forms of these diseases, an estimated 60,000 Americans will die of
them in 2001.
For all forms of leukemia, the five-year survival rate
is only 46%, for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma it is 54.2%, and for multiple
myeloma it is only 28%. Despite the significant decline in the death
rate for children with leukemia, this disease still causes more
deaths in children in the U.S. than any other disease. Furthermore,
the death rates for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma are
increasing at a time when death rates for other cancers are
dropping.
Since the 1970's, incidence rates for
non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma have increased dramatically, making it one of the fastest
rising cancers in the United States. The hematologic cancers strike
individuals of all ages, from children to the elderly; men and
women; and all races."
"Not
only politicians, regulators, scientists, doctors and pharmaceutical
officers get cancer, but their parents, siblings children,
grandchildren and best friends - so we have an interested
majority in any group you can think of - and we have to work the
system by speaking up, being active and letting them know that
we care and that we expect them to do their best to deal with
this devastating plague in our society.
Join us next year in D.C."
- Leonard R.
