With remarkable progress being made in the understanding of cancer biology, it is now known that cancers involve the malfunction of genes controlling cell growth and division. Especially exciting is the increasing ability of scientists to pinpoint genes linked to specific types of cancers. While this watershed in cancer research is providing physicians with unprecedented opportunities to develop new strategies for prevention, early detection and treatment, cancers continue to take millions of lives every year.
- This year, an estimated 1.5 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer.
- More than 500,000 Americans are expected to die of cancer this year.
- Lung cancer ranks as the leading cause of cancer death in the US, followed by breast cancer and colorectal cancer.
- The five-year relative survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 1999- 2005 is 68 percent, up from 50 percent in 1975-1977.
Source: National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society
NYU Winthrop Hospital, a Category 1 Cancer Center, provides the full spectrum of care from advanced diagnostics through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. The Hospital’s cancer specialists and researchers are involved in rigorous basic and clinical studies of a wide variety of cancers, including lung cancer, childhood cancers, blood cancers, colorectal cancer and gynecological cancers.
WUH Researchers’ Study:
- Prevention and treatment of gynecologic cancers.
- Predictors of long term survivors in breast and other cancers
- Application of translational research to innovative therapy of malignancy
- Multimodal approaches in the treatment of hepatobiliary malignancies
- Effects of clinical infrastructures in hematologic, colorectal, lung, urinary, and other cancers