What is The Prognosis and Survival For Lung Cancer?
Lung cancer is the leading cause of death in India with cigarette smoking being the leading cause of lung cancer. People who smoke are 23 times more likely to get lung cancer than non-smokers. Lung cancer is of different types, diagnosed at different stages and each stage has a relative survival rate.
When we get this imperative question on what is the survival rate of people with lung cancer, the answer is subjective to the patient’s condition. The outcome of the treatment depends largely on the stage of cancer and the time it was diagnosed. In simpler words, how big the tumour is and if it has spread to/around other tissues/organs.
What Is The Lung Cancer Survival Rate?
Another way is to study statistics of patients surviving with lung cancer. One trusted source is the data collected by the National Cancer Institute. By the definition, the 5-years stats show the results of the people who were diagnosed with lung cancer five years ago. The 5-year survival rate for all people with all types of lung cancer is 21%- 65% (approx.) These stats highly depend on the relative survival rates by stages and types of cancer.
The relative survival rate for Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common kind of lung cancer, accounting for over 90% of cases. The National Cancer Institute’s database categorises diseases based on the extent to which tumours have spread. The average percentages of people who are alive 5 years following diagnosis are used to calculate these relative survival rates. People who died of causes other than lung cancer are not included.
- The people with localised cancer (cancer that only affects one lung): 66%
- Regional (cancer has migrated to lymph nodes or outside the lung): 33%
- Distant (cancer has spread to other parts of the body, such as the brain, lungs, and bones): 6%
- All stage cancer: 23%
- The relative survival rate for Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) has is low than other types of lung cancer.
- Localized: 29%
- Regional: 15%
- Distant: 3%
- All stages: 6%
Adding on to the stats,
Some doctors use a more detailed prognostic tool based on the tumour, nodes, and metastatic staging system (TNM). These survival rates represent the actual percentage of persons who were alive at 2 and 5 years after being diagnosed with either NSCLC or SCLC.
The relative survival rate depending on the stage of the cancer is:
- Stage 1 A: 90%
- Stage 1 B: 73%
- Stage 2 A: 65%
- Stage 2 B: 56%
- Stage 3 A: 41%
- Stage 3 B: 24%
- Stage 3 C: 12%
The survival rate of highly advanced cancers are calculated by considering all types of cancers, such as in
- Stage 4 A: 10%
- Stage 4 B: 0%
*All the values are subjective to change as and when advances in the research*
Lung cancer affects people differently. Treatments may impact you differently. The good news is that lung cancer deaths in India have been consistently declining. Lung Cancer Treatment In India is showing successful results and the average survival time for those newly diagnosed has increased.
Visit www.cancerrounds.com for more information, queries, to connect with the best oncologists in India and to have a 360-degree overview of how lung cancer treatment works in India.
