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Life Expectancy for Prostate Cancer Patients

The American Cancer Society reports that prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in American males, that it predicted 27,360 deaths from the disease in 2009. Despite these statistics, improvements in detecting and treating prostate cancers considerably increase the life expectancy for prostate cancer patients.

  1. Background

    • The American Cancer Society reports life expectancies as survival rates. A survival rate is a statistic that tells what percentage of men lived to a certain anniversary of their diagnosis. If a man passes away from something other than prostate cancer, he is removed from the statistical sample.

    5 Year Survival Rate

    • Over 99 percent of men live to the fifth anniversary of their prostate cancer diagnosis.

    10 Year Survival Rate

    • The 10-year survival rate for prostate cancer is 93 percent.

    15 Year Survival Rate

    • At the fifteen year mark, the survival rate drops to 79 percent.

    Conclusions

    • Though 1 in 6 men develop prostate cancer throughout their lives, only 1 in 35 men die from it. There are over 2 million survivors of prostate cancer living in the United States.

    Considerations

    • A man's particular life expectancy after a prostate cancer diagnosis depends on a number of factors--such as his age, the stage of the cancer, and his general health. An oncologist can provide an accurate, individualized prognosis.

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