Finding A Cure For Cancer

KYW Medical Reports Sponsored By Independence Blue Cross

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Vice President Joe Biden has stated that he will spend the rest of his life trying to help find a cure for cancer—this in the face of the death of his son Beau Biden.

Certainly he has a big battle ahead—as does medicine in general—but there is good news.  Deaths from cancer continue to decline in the United States, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society. Since peaking in 1991, cancer death rates have dropped by 23 percent. In fact, cancer death rates are continuing to decline by about 1.5 percent per year. The 23 percent drop in death rates occurred from 1991 through 2012. The decline in the past 20 years has been driven by the continuous drop in deaths for four major cancer types: breast, colon, lung and prostate.