Brain Cancer Life Expectancy

Like other forms of cancer, brain cancer is a complex disease that has several different cell types. Rates of survival are often influenced by the type of tumor a person has and by his age.

General Survival

• The medical community tracks cancer statistics according to the number of years a person remains alive after he or she has been diagnosed. According to the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States (CBTRUS), 28.8 percent of adult males and 31.6 percent of adult females are alive five years after their diagnoses. The CBTRUS, which lumps brain cancer together with other central nervous system cancers, includes statistics only for brain cancers that have occurred as the primary cancer site. They do not include brain cancers that are the result of cancer which originated elsewhere in the body but spread to the brain.

Tumor Types

• "The Merck Manual" states that gliomas are the most common type of cancerous brain tumor, accounting for 65 percent of all primary brain tumors. Gliomas are so named because they are tumors that form in the glial cells of the brain. There are several different kinds of gliomas, and the survival rates vary widely depending on the type of glioma. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), glioblastoma multiforme has the poorest five-year survival statistics, while oligodendroglioma has the best outcomes.

  ACS reports that ependymoma tumors, which form in the brain's ventricle tissue, have the highest survival rates, but, according to "The Merck Manual," they account for a mere one percent of all brain tumors.

Age

• Generally, younger brain cancer patients have better 5-year survival rates than older patients, no matter what type of brain cancer they have. The American Cancer Society provides a break-down of 5-year survival rates by tumor type and age range.

Childhood

• Brain cancer causes nearly 25 percent of all childhood cancer deaths (those occurring before age 20), according to the National Cancer Institute. However, survival rates improved an average of 1.1 percent per year from 1975 to 1995 (the most recent period reported). The CBTRUS says the overall five-year survival rate for people younger than 20 is 66 percent. (This statistic includes central nervous system tumors as well as primary malignant brain tumors.)

Expert Insight

• ACS emphasizes that while survival numbers can be helpful, they don't necessarily serve as a gauge for an individual person's prognosis. "A number of other factors, including the size and location of the tumor and the amount that can be removed by surgery, can also affect outlook," says ACS.