How many people are affected by colon cancer?
An estimated 145,290 new cases will be diagnosed in 2005 in the United States. Of these new cancer cases, 104,950 will be colon cancer and 40,340 rectal cancer. And an estimated 56,290 will die of the disease in 2005, making it the third leading cause of cancer and of cancer death in both men and women in the United States.