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Among men and women, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in Americans. About 93,800 new cases of colon cancer (43,400 men and 50,400 women) and 36,400 new cases of rectal cancer (20,200 men and 16,200 women) will be diagnosed in 2000.

Colon cancer is expected to be responsible for about 47,700 deaths (23,100 men and 24,600 women) during 2000. About 8,600 people (4,700 men

The death rate from colorectal cancer has been going down for the past 20 years. This may be because there are fewer cases, more of the cases are found early, and treatments have improved.

The 5-year relative survival rate is 90% for people whose colorectal cancer is found and treated in an early stage, before it has spread. But, only 37% of colorectal cancers are found at that early stage. Once the cancer has spread to nearby organs or lymph nodes, the 5-year relative survival rate goes down to 65%. For people whose colorectal cancer has spread to distant parts of the body such as the liver or lungs, the 5-year relative survival rate is 8%.

The 5-year survival rate refers to the percent of patients who live at least 5 years after their cancer is diagnosed. Many of these patients live much longer than 5 years after diagnosis, and 5-year rates are used to produce a standard way of discussing prognosis. Five-year relative survival rates exclude from the calculations patients dying of other diseases, and are considered to be a more accurate way to describe the prognosis for patients with a particular type and stage of cancer. Of course, 5-year rates are based on patients diagnosed and initially treated more than 5 years ago. Improvements in treatment often result in a more favorable outlook for recently diagnosed patients.