Cancer screening and quitting smoking have saved nearly 6 million lives

Better treatments have also prevented cancer deaths in the last 45 years

A male doctor sits next to a computer screen with diagnostic images while gesturing at a 3D model of a colon, across the desk from an older man wearing an orange shirt

Colonoscopies and other cancer screening tests, paired with preventive measures and better treatments helped save nearly 6 million lives from cancer from 1975 through 2020.

PonyWang / Getty Images

Nearly 6 million deaths from five common cancers were avoided through prevention, early detection and better treatments, a new study reveals.

Biostatistician Katrina Goddard from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md.,