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Vital Signs

FACTS & FIGURES

Keeping ahead of cancer

An MRI of brain cancer (blue spot)

Year National Cancer Institute established
1937

Year National Cancer Act passed and "war on cancer" declared
1971

Year DHMC's Norris Cotton Cancer Center established
1972

Rank of cancer as a cause of death in the U.S.
2

Number of new cancer cases diagnosed annually in the U.S.
1.2 million

Percentage of patients who pass the five-year survival mark
60%

Number of patient visits annually at Norris Cotton Cancer Center
31,000

Estimated annual direct and indirect cost of cancer in the U.S.
$180 billion

National Cancer Institute annual budget
$4.2 billion

Norris Cotton Cancer Center annual research funding
$43 million

Estimated number of cancer survivors in the U.S.
8.9 million

Sources: National Cancer Institute and Norris Cotton Cancer Center


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