Cancer deaths in the United States have dropped between 10 percent and 20 percent since the early 1990s, but it will still kill an estimated 565,650 Americans this year, the American Cancer Society (ACS) said on Wednesday.

Cancer deaths have decreased by 18.4 percent among men and 10.5 percent among women since the early 1990s, according to recent data revealed by the ACS. That means that half-million cancer deaths were avoided between the early 1990s and 2004. Experts attribute the success to declines in smoking and to earlier detection and more effective treatment of tumors.

 But, while reports from the last two years have seen declines in the overall number of cancer deaths (in 2003 and 2004), this year report analyzing 2005 data shows an increase (559, 312 cancer deaths in 2005 compared to 553,888 in 2004).

Overall, cancer remains the second cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease.

The ACS estimated there would be 1,437,180 new cancer cases – 745,180 in men and 692,000 in women – in 2008 in the US, as well as 565,650 cancer deaths – 294,120 among men and 271,530 among women.

“The increase in the number of cancer deaths in 2005 after two years of historic declines should not obscure the fact that cancer death rates continue to drop, reflecting the enormous progress that has been made against cancer during the past 15 years. While in 2005 the rate of decline was not enough to overtake other population factors, the fact remains that cancer mortality rates continue to drop and they're doing so at a rate fast enough that over half a million deaths from cancer were averted between 1990/1991 and 2004,” John R. Seffrin, PhD, American Cancer Society chief executive officer said in a statement, Reuters reported.

According to the report, prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers account for about half of all cancer diagnoses among men; in women, breast, lung, and colorectal cancer make up 50 percent.

A major enemy in discovering cancer in early stages seems to be the lack of health insurance. A recent study revealed that uninsured or Medicaid-patients were more likely to be diagnosed with an advanced stage cancer than those with private insurance. It is already known that many cancers respond well to treatment when discovered in their early stages, before cancer cells spread from one part of the body to other parts. Unfortunately, more advanced cancer is much harder to treat and much more likely to kill.