Varying Survival Rates Based on Stage of Diagnosis

Survival rates are a way for doctors and patients to get a general idea of the outlook for people with a certain type and stage of cancer. Some people with cancer may want to know the survival rates for their type of cancer. Others may not find the numbers helpful, or may even not want to know them. It is up to the individual whether or not she/he wants to read about survival rates.
The 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who live at least 5 years after their cancer is found at certain stage (I-IV). Of course, some patients live much longer than 5 years. Five-year relative survival rates for non-small cell lung cancer means that people who die of other causes are not included. A staging system is a standardized way in which the cancer care team describes the extent of the cancer. Below we present relative survival rates of non-small cell and small cell lung, colon, rectal, breast and prostate cancer.

The numbers on the Chart 1 are from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, based on people who were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer between 1988 and 2000.


*Stage IA is the earliest diagnosed stage and stage IV is the latest stage.

While these numbers provide an overall picture, keep in mind that every person's situation is unique and the statistics can't predict exactly what will happen in a certain case.

The numbers on the Chart 2 below are from the SEER database. They are based on people with small cell lung cancer between 1988 and 2001. Five-year relative survival rates (like the ones below) don't count people who died of other causes.



The numbers on the Chart 3 include people diagnosed with colon cancer who may have later died from other causes, such as heart disease. People with colon cancer tend to be older and may have other serious health conditions. This means the percentage of people surviving the colon cancer itself is likely to be higher, and many of them live much longer than 5 years.

Please note that in this study (Chart 3), survival was better for some stage IIIA than for some stage IIB. The reasons for this are not clear.



*Stage IA is the earliest diagnosed stage and stage IV is the latest stage.

In this study (Chart 4), survival was better for some stage III cancers than for some stage II cancers. The reasons for this are not clear.


*Stage IA is the earliest diagnosed stage and stage IV is the latest stage.

The numbers on Chart 5 are based on women treated a number of years ago.



The National Cancer Institute (NCI) keeps a database of survival statistics for different types of cancer. This database does not group prostate cancers by stage, but instead groups cancers into local, regional, and distant stages (Chart 6).
Local stage means that there is no sign that the cancer has spread outside of the prostate. This is like stages I and II. Almost 9 out of 10 prostate cancers are found in this early stage. If the cancer has spread from the prostate to nearby areas, it is called regional disease. This includes cancers that are stage III and the stage IV cancers that haven't spread to distant parts of the body. Distant stage includes the rest of the stage IV cancers -- all cancers that have spread to distant lymph nodes, bone, or other organs.



The 5-year relative survival rate is the percentage of men who do not die from prostate cancer within 5 years after the cancer is found. (Men with prostate cancer who die of other causes are not counted.) Of course, patients might live more than 5 years after diagnosis. These 5-year survival rates are based on men with prostate cancer first treated more than 5 years ago. Treatment has gotten better since then and for recently diagnosed patients this may result in a better outlook.

The following survival rates (Chart 7) are based on nearly 60,000 patients who were part of the 2008 AJCC Melanoma Staging Database. These are observed survival rates. They include some people diagnosed with melanoma who may have later died from other causes, such as heart disease. Therefore, the percentage of people surviving the melanoma itself may be higher.


*Stage IA is the earliest diagnosed stage and stage IV is the latest stage.

Other factors aside from stage may also affect survival. For example, stage for stage, older people generally have shorter survival times. The biggest drop begins at age 70. Although melanoma is uncommon among African Americans, when it does occur, survival times tend to be shorter than when it occurs in whites. Some studies have shown that melanoma is more serious if it occurs on a foot, palm, or nail bed. People with HIV infection and melanoma also are at greater risk of dying of their melanoma.

With recent advances in diagnostic, screening programs have more and more impact on increasing detection in earlier stages. For some types of cancer, screening can help find cancers in an early stage when they are more easily cured.
Prostate cancer can often be found early by testing the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. Another way to find prostate cancer is the digital rectal exam (DRE), in which a doctor puts a gloved finger into the rectum to feel the prostate gland. If prostate cancer is found during screening with the PSA test or DRE, cancer will likely be at an early, more treatable stage than if no screening were done. Since the use of early detection tests for prostate cancer became fairly common (about 1990), the prostate cancer death rate has dropped. Prostate cancer tends to be a slow growing cancer, so the effects of screening in these studies may become even more apparent in the coming years.

The goal of screening exams for breast cancer, such as mammograms, is to find cancers before they start to cause symptoms. Breast cancers that are found because they can be felt tend to be larger and are more likely to have already spread beyond the breast. In contrast, breast cancers found during screening exams are more likely to be small and still confined to the breast. The size of a breast cancer and how far it has spread are important factors in predicting the prognosis (survival outlook) for a woman with this disease. Most doctors feel that early detection tests for breast cancer save many thousands of lives each year, and that many more lives could be saved if even more women and their health care providers took advantage of these tests. Current evidence supporting mammograms is even stronger than in the past. In particular, recent evidence has confirmed that mammograms offer substantial benefit for women in their 40s. Women can feel confident about the benefits associated with regular mammograms for finding cancer early.

Colorectal cancer is a term used to refer to cancer that develops in the colon or the rectum. These cancers are sometimes referred to separately as colon cancer or rectal cancer, depending on where they start. In most people, colorectal cancers develop slowly over several years. Before a cancer develops, a growth of tissue or tumor usually begins as a non-cancerous polyp on the inner lining of the colon or rectum. A tumor is abnormal tissue and can be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer). A polyp is a benign, non-cancerous tumor. Some polyps can change into cancer, but not all do. From the time the first abnormal cells start to grow into polyps, it usually takes about 10 to 15 years for them to develop into colorectal cancer. Regular screening can, in many cases, prevent colorectal cancer altogether. This is because some polyps, or growths, can be found and removed before they have the chance to turn into cancer. Screening can also result in finding colorectal cancer early, when it is highly curable. If colorectal cancer does occur, early detection and treatment dramatically increase chances of survival.
The death rate (the number of deaths per 100,000 people per year) from colorectal cancer has been dropping for more than 20 years. There are a number of likely reasons for this. One is that polyps are being found by screening and removed before they can develop into cancers. Screening also allows more colorectal cancers to be found earlier, when the disease is easier to cure. In addition, treatment for colorectal cancer has improved over the last several years. As a result, there are now more than 1 million survivors of colorectal cancer in the United States. Regular colorectal cancer screening or testing is one of the most powerful weapons for preventing colorectal cancer.
The relative 5-year survival rate for colorectal cancer when diagnosed at an early stage before it has spread is about 90%. But only about 4 out of 10 colorectal cancers are found at that early stage. Once the cancer has spread to nearby organs or lymph nodes, the 5-year relative survival rate goes down, and if cancer has spread to distant organs (like the liver or lung) the rate is about 11%.
Not only does colorectal cancer screening save lives, but it also is cost effective. Studies have shown that the cost-effectiveness of colorectal screening is consistent with many other kinds of preventive services and is lower than some common interventions. It is much less expensive to remove a polyp during screening than to try to treat advanced colorectal cancer. With sharp cost increases possible as new treatments become standards of care, screening is likely to become even more cost effective.
Skin cancer is the most common of all cancer types. More than 1 million skin cancers are diagnosed each year in the United States. That's more than cancers of the prostate, breast, lung, colon, uterus, ovaries, and pancreas combined. The number of skin cancer cases has been going up over the past few decades. Finding possible skin cancers doesn't require any x-rays or blood tests -- just your eyes and a mirror. If skin cancer does develop, finding it early is the best way to ensure it can be treated effectively.
This article is brought to you by GenWay Biotech Inc. GenWay offers a cancer assessment aimed to detect 20 different types of cancer in the early stages under the brand name You Test You™. To learn more, please visit the website www.youtestyou.com.

References: All the data in this article are provided by the American Cancer Society.
American Cancer Society. 2010
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2009. Atlanta: American Cancer Society, 2009.