|  | Cancer | Lung Cancer

Prognosis of Patient With Lung Cancer

The two types of lung cancer are non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. These two types of cancer differ not only in how they look but also how they spread and therefore their prognosis (or outcome). Doctors deliver a prognosis as a five-year survival rate, meaning the number of patients who survive for at least five years after diagnosis.

  1. Small Cell Lung Cancer

    • According to Cancer Research UK, small cell lung cancer accounts for only about 20 percent of all diagnosed cases of lung cancer. This type of cancer is almost always caused by smoking. As the name implies, the cancer cells of this type are small. Small cell lung cancer spreads early in the disease, which is why two out of three people diagnosed already have extensive disease and why the prognosis for this type is grimmer than for non-small cell lung cancer.

    Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

    • Non-small cell lung cancer can have a better prognosis than small cell lung cancer, but it is still a serious disease. There are three types of non-small cell lung cancer. Squamous cell cancer, the most common type, is typically caused by smoking and is marked by the cancer cells forming in the airways, and is usually found in the center of the lung. Adenocarcinoma also develops from cells in the airway but is more commonly found in the outer areas of the lung. Large cell carcinoma has characteristically large cells and this type of cancer tends to grow and spread quickly.

    Staging

    • At diagnosis, cancer is assigned a stage. This stage is determined by the location of cancer, the size of the tumors and the spread of the disease. For lung cancer there are four main stages, I, II, III and IV with subcategories to each. Stage I is the least severe and has the best prognosis while stage IV is the most severe with a bleak prognosis.

    Smalll Cell: Prognosis

    • Small cell lung cancer is the worst to have because by the time most patients are diagnosed the disease has progressed beyond treatment. According to Cancer Research UK, the following statistics represent the survival rates. For stage 1A and 2A both have a survival rate of 38 percent while stage IB lowers to 21 percent and stage IIB is 18 percent. The survival rate for stage III ranges from 13 percent (for IIIA) to 9 percent (for IIIB). The prognosis for Stage IV is grim as only 1 percent live for five years after diagnosis.

    Non-Small Cell: Prognosis

    • According to Cancer Research UK, patients with non-small cell lung cancer have a better prognosis as those with stage IA have a survival rate 58 percent to 73 percent and stage IB between 43 percent and 58 percent. Stage II has a survival rate of 36 percent to 46 percent (for IIA) and 25 percent to 36 percent (for IIB). For stage III the survival rate drops dramatically with IIIA having 19 percent to 24 percent but stage IIIB having only 7 percent to 9 percent. The survival rate for stage IV is higher than for small cell lung cancer, but still not very positive at 2 percent to 13 percent.

Lung Cancer - Related Articles