Cancer killed more than 5,000 people across the USA in 2005, the American Cancer Society said Wednesday. The death rate caused by cancerous diseases continued to decline during the recent years, although it was only a slight decline after two years of more dramatic decrease.

Though the overall incidence of head and neck cancers has fallen in the United States, the rate of oropharyngeal cancers(chiefly, tonsil and base of tongue) is stagnant and appears to be rising is certain populations and these trends are likely due to oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.

New cases of stomach cancer are set to plummet a further 25 per cent in the West over the next decade, indicates research published ahead of print in the journal Gut.

An extended analysis of cancer rates reinforces a strong association between use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and increased breast cancer incidence, according to research led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and published in the April 19th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.