Life expectancy for lung cancer

What is the life expectancy for lung cancer?

Survival rates are what tells you what percentage of people with the same age and stage of lung cancer are still alive for a certain period of time after they have been diagnosed. The survival rate mentioned cannot serve as an indicator of how long the patient will live, but it may help the patient in understanding if the treatment will be successful or not. This is useful in predicting lung cancer life expectancy.

Life expectancy for lung cancer

What is a five year survival rate?

The five-year survival rate is known as the percentage of people who live for five years after being diagnosed with cancer. For instance a, 5 year survival rate of 90% means 90 out of 100 people can live for five years after being initially diagnosed with cancer.

Survival rates for non small cell lung cancer

The five year survival rate for non-small cell lung cancer is listed below by stage.

Stage 1

  • The five year survival rate for people with stage 1A NSCLC ranges from 75-92%.
  • The five year survival rate for people with stage 1B non-small cell lung cancer is about 68%.

Stage 2

  • The five-year survival rate for people with stage 2A NSCLC is about 60%.
  • The five-year survival rate for people with stage 2B NSCLC is about 53%.

Stage 3

  • The five year survival rate for people with stage 3A NSCLC is 36%.
  • The five year survival rate for people with stage 3B NSCLC is 26% .
  • The five year survival rate for people with stage 3C NSCLC is about 13%.

Stage 4

  • The five year survival rate for people with stage 4A NSCLC is about 10% because after the cancer has spread to other parts of the body it is often hard to treat.
  • The five year survival rate for people with stage 4B NSCLC is less than 1%.