Cancer Prevention, Screening & Risk Assessment

David S. Alberts, MD, Mary Klein Buller, MA, Ernest
Rosenbaum, MD, Malin Dollinger, MD, and Guy Newell, MD 
Adapted for the Canadian edition by Andrew Arnold, MB, BS 

Most of our lives have been, or will be, touched by
cancer. But there are positive measures we can take to
prevent or survive this disease. More than 120,000
new cases of cancer are diagnosed in Canada annually.
As the second leading cause of death after heart
disease, cancer claims the lives of about 61,000
Canadians each year.
    Although that translates into one death from
cancer every ten minutes, there is reason for
optimism. Significant advances in the prevention,
early detection and treatment of several cancers have
enabled half of all patients with cancer to survive. Many
Canadians alive today with a history of cancer can attest to recent successes.