| | Stomach cancer, also called gastric cancer, was once one of the more common cancers in the United States and the world. The number of cases of stomach cancer in the United States and Europe has declined significantly in the last 60 years. One reason for this decline may be improvements in food storage methods. Still, the rate of stomach cancer cases continues to be higher outside the United States, especially in Japan, Chile, Costa Rica, Hungary and Poland with dietary and environmental factors blamed as the likely culprits.
According to American Cancer Society estimates, 21,500 Americans will be diagnosed and 13,000 patients will die from stomach cancer in 2000. The overall five-year survival rate is 20 percent. Only about 10 to 20 percent of U.S. cases are diagnosed in the early stages, which accounts for the low survival rate.
Copyright © 2000 Oncology.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
