The Gillette Prostate Cancer Challenge encourages you to talk to the men in your life: fathers, brothers, sons, and husbands. They may be at risk for prostate cancer and not know it.

General Prostate Cancer Facts

Diagnosis and Mortality Rates

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men in the U.S. today, and is the second leading cause of cancer death.

1 in 6 American men will get prostate cancer during his lifetime.

Prostate cancer is diagnosed every 2 1/4 minutes, over 232,000 new cases are expected in 2005. It is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in America among men.

An estimated 30,350 American men will lose their lives to prostate cancer this year alone, 1 death every 18 minutes. That's more new cases than any other form of cancer.

Prostate cancer incidence rates increased 192% between 1973 and 1992.

If a close relative has prostate cancer, a man's risk of the disease more than doubles. With 2 relatives, his risk increases 5 times. With 3 close relatives, his risk is about 97%.

In the next 24 hours, prostate cancer will claim the lives of 83 American men.

Prostate cancer represents 33% of all new cancer cases in American men.

Survival Rates

When detected early, prostate cancer is highly treatable - nearly 100% of men survive.

About 99.3% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are still alive in 5 years*.

About 86% of prostate cancer cases are found while the cancer is still either local or regional.

In cases where the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body, 34% survive 5 years.

After 10 years, about 97.9% of men diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer are still alive*, but only 17.6% of those diagnosed with advanced stage prostate cancer survive 10 years*.

*Not including those who died from other causes.