WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Most types of cancer down in the U.S.

January 4, 2012

Enrique Lenchewski, 68, knew something was wrong. He had pain every time he ate.

"It radiated to my back and then radiated to my shoulder," he said.

A CT scan revealed bad news-- he had pancreatic cancer, one of several cancers on the rise, according a new report from the American Cancer Society.

"We're seeing a rise in cancers of the thyroid, cancers of the esophagus, cancers of the pancreas and cancer of the throat," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society.

It's estimated there will be more than 1.6 million new cases of cancer and more than half a million people will die in the U.S. this year alone. And doctors say obesity, lack of exercise and high caloric intake is behind many of the new cases.

There is some encouraging news. Cancer rates and deaths are continuing to decline for both men and women when it comes to common cancers such as breast, prostate lung and colorectal cancer. Experts say the key is screening.

"We're catching it earlier. We're catching the abnormal tissue earlier so that they don't turn into cancer," said Dr. Allyson Ocean of NY-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Thanks to improved cancer treatments, Lenchewski has kept his cancer in check for more than two years.

"This disease is very insidious, very silent. That's why the death rate is so high-- the survival rate is 5 percent after 5 years," Lenchewski said.

But Lenchewski's hopes are high. He plans to be a part of that 5 percent.

The American Cancer Society says that obesity may overtake smoking as the number one cause of cancer within the next decade.