American Cancer Society reports cancer death rates down 32% in past 30 years

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) -Cancer has touched many lives, in one way or another. The American Cancer Society released a report this month, indicating that cancer deaths have decreased by almost 32% over the past 28 years.

One medical provider in the region believes some of this positive news should be attributed to the treatment of cancer and supportive care of those that are diagnosed.

“Patients who are diagnosed either at an earlier stage or more advanced stages have access to therapies that have changed a lot and we have more immune therapies and targeted therapies,” said Dr. Benjamin George, oncologist with Great Plains Health. Leading us to the heart of cancer as far as molecular diagnosis and targeted therapies. So therapies are better, more improved, and more refined. Allowing the body’s immune system to fight cancer that has basically hidden from the body this whole time and the immune therapies take the breaks off and allow the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. This is much different than how we historically treated cancer with chemotherapy, which we still use but were using a lot less.”

Dr. George has nearly 20 years of experience in the field and will join NBC Nebraska 2 on Wednesday to discuss the importance of early detection of cancer and cancer prevention.

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