A lung cancer prognosis is a medical opinion on the likely course and outcome of the disease. A prognosis for lung cancer depends on the type and stage of the disease, the patient’s age and overall health and they type of symptoms they are suffering. A doctor will make a prediction on how the disease is likely to respond to different treatments, this prediction is based on research collected from hundreds or thousands of cancer patients.
A doctor will try and use data collected from a group of patients most similar to their current patient. A doctor will give a positive or negative lung cancer prognosis from the statistics, however it is important to remember that this is just a prediction and not a definite outcome. This prognosis can change as the disease develops or if treatment is effective.
Within a lung cancer prognosis there will be survival rates. These rates usually refer to the percentage of people still alive (whether in remission, cured, or still with the disease) 5 years after first being diagnosed. These survival rates can be calculated in different ways according to their purpose. The relative survival rate measures the survival of lung cancer patients in comparison to the rest of the population. The overall relative survival rates for 1995 – 2002 were 15%.
The stage of the disease will impact the lung cancer prognosis. Data collected from past cases tell us;
- 16% of lung cancer cases are diagnosed while the disease is still localised.
- 37% are diagnosed once the cancer has spread to the lympg nodes or directly outside the original site.
- 39% are diagnosed once the disease has metastasized.
- 8% had staging information that was unknown.
The corresponding 5 year survival rates were;
- 49.3% for localised
- 15.5% for regional
- 2.1% for distant
- 7.9% for unstaged