ABSTRACT
Acknowledgment ...................................................................................................299 References ..............................................................................................................299
Cancer is a disease that directly or indirectly affects everyone and is the second leading cause of mortality worldwide with over 7.5 million people dying from cancer each year.1-3 Of that 7.5 million, the American Cancer Society estimates that 600,000 deaths occur from cancer in the United States. In 2010, 1.5 million people in the United States were diagnosed with cancer, and when stratified by age, cancer is now the leading cause of death for people under the age of 85 with lung cancer being by far the biggest killer of both men and women.4-8 Currently, approximately one out of every four deaths in the United States is due to cancer.1,7 Cancer also carries signifi cant economic costs that continue to grow each year with 2010 costs of ~$124 billion for cancer care being projected to increase to anywhere from ~$157 billion to ~$173 billion by 2020.9 And these figures are only for care and treatment; they do not include other indirect costs such income and productivity losses nor do they account for the substantial emotional impact of cancer on both the patients and their families.
