Prostate cancer strikes many, kills few

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer, after skin cancer, in American men:

Incidence: One in seven men will be diagnosed with the cancer in their lifetimes, with the average age of diagnosis being 66. For 2017, officials estimate that 161,360 new cases will be diagnosed.

Death rate: Survival rates are relatively high: 26,730 deaths from prostate cancer are predicted in the U.S. in 2017. Nearly 3 million U.S. men diagnosed with prostate cancer are living today.

Treatment: Standard treatments include prostate removal surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Elderly men with Stage One cancers might opt to do nothing because the risks of treatment can outweigh the risks of a slow-growing cancer. Mayo Clinic is among the centers nationally testing proton beam therapy.

Survival: The relative survival rate from prostate cancer is almost 100 percent five years after diagnosis, and 95 percent 15 years after diagnosis — meaning that men with the cancer are almost as likely to live for those durations as men without the cancer. Survival declines with severity. A Stage Four cancer, which has spread to other organs, comes with a relative five-year survival rate of 28 percent.

Survivors: Former senator and presidential candidate Robert Dole, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, actor Robert De Niro, former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre.