Lung Cancer

Forecasting the Course of Disease: Lung Cancer Prognosis Overall, fewer than 10% of people with primary lung cancer are alive 5 years after diagnosis. But 5-year survival rates may be as high as 35 to 40% among patients who undergo surgical resection for cancer that has not spread beyond the lung. General estimates of stage-specific median survival times - the point at which 50% of patients are still living - are as follows: Stage 1a - more than 60 months (> 5 years) Stage 1b - about 36 months (3 years) Stage 2a - about 24 months (2 years) Stage 2b - about 20 months (< 2 years) Stage 3a - about 15 months (< 1.5 years) Stage 3b - about 12 months (1 year) Stage 4 - about 8 months (< 1 year) Recent findings indicate that 5-year survival rates approach 85% among patients who are younger than 30 years of age and have surgically removable lung cancers (Mizushima et al., Cancer 85:1730-33, April 1999). Researchers believe that genetic mutations may be responsible for differences in survival rates between older and younger people with lung cancer. www.oncologychannel.com