Therapeutic Treatment for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia PDF

FOREWORD

Economists have estimated that a 1% reduction in cancer mortality (deaths) results in the addition of more than US$ 500 billion to the national wealth. Despite this, there is a cancer-funding crisis. For example, the government's 2007 budget for cancer research through the National Cancer Institute (NCI) wanted to appropriate US$ 4.75 billion. This was $40 million less than in 2006 and $71 million less than in 2005. Also, in 2007, the NCI's Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program was ordered by the government to cut 60% of the proposed new clinical trials. As a result, 2,000 to 3,000 patients were left out of new trials. This was a moneysaving maneuver that cost lives.

Most people have no idea how many people die from cancer. They would be surprised to fi nd that there are about 2,500 deaths a day. Also, those who die represent a cross-section of our population. Not all are old; some are very young, even though the older you get, the more susceptible you are to cancer because it generally takes time to develop. As a matter of fact, because of the baby boom, 20% of the U.S. population will be over 65 in 2030. For this reason the deaths per day will increase almost exponentially (times ten) each day within the next 5–10 years if things remain the same. Race inequities and poverty aggravate the situation because some people wait until it is too late to see a doctor and die shortly after their diagnosis. This disease takes some of the most vibrant, productive, and important people we have.

If you are 95 years old and die of cancer it's probably not that unusual. However, if you are between 5 and 95 years of age it's another matter. We live as though we will live forever, but the reality is that at any moment any one of us could be diagnosed with cancer. Then we may have to endure cancer treatments that could be painful and we could still die. Getting cancer is something quite indescribable and only fully understood when experienced fi rst hand. The physical part of the experience can be either benign or beyond comprehension. Surely, the most insidious part of the experience is the emotional and physiological aspects. As you can imagine, physical problems (such as pain) subside and eventually go away, but the emotional and psychological memories of the experience remain, much like an unseen surgical scar. The fact is that we do not live forever, but we may forever have to live with having gotten cancer.