Prognosis of Lung Cancer: What Does it Mean For Me?

When medical people talk about the prognosis of lung cancer, they are usually referring to what they expect the outcome of the lung cancer to be. In other words, what it will mean for the patient and their future life and health.

The word prognosis also is used to mean the likely duration of the cancer, what complications could be expected and the likelihood of them occurring, the patient's prospects for recovery and how long that recovery could take. The probable outcome of the lung cancer is also part of the prognosis, with survival rate and death rate taken into account.

Naturally, a prognosis is unpredictable and some of the expected occurrences may not occur. The prognosis is based on past patients and previous cases of the same type of cancer, and is worked out as an average of all these previous lung cancer patients and cases. The prognosis that a patient is given, is the best estimate a doctor can make, based on these historical facts.

The three most common factors used when forming a prognosis are the type of the lung cancer, the stage it as at when first diagnosed and the patient's ability to respond to treatment. Some lung cancers are slow growing, while others are more aggressive, and this is why the type of lung cancer helps to determine the prognosis. Early detection and treatment gives the best results for any cancer, and some lung cancers, treated in the very early stages, respond well to various treatments. The age and general health of a person diagnosed with lung cancer also needs to be taken into account when determining the prognosis.

Although survival rates have improved for non small cell lung cancers, it is still a fact that only around 2% of lung cancer patients, whose cancer had spread outside the lungs by the time it was diagnosed, will survive up to five years after they are diagnosed. Patients whose cancer is diagnosed in its very early stages have a better prognosis, with 49% surviving for the five years or more.

Advances in treatment methods have improved the survival rates for non small cell lung cancers; radiation and chemotherapy are now used in conjunction with each other. Unfortunately, small cell lung cancers are very hard to treat and are among the most aggressive of all the cancers of the lungs. Added to this, in most patients, the cancer is fairly advanced before they are diagnosed, making a full recovery even less likely. Small cell lung cancer patients may initially respond to chemotherapy and radiation, but relapse is common.

The prognosis is partly based on complications that are known to occur with lung cancer. The individual patient may not experience these complications, but they need to be factored into the prognosis for it to be an accurate assessment. Complications include the spread of the cancer cells to the brain, liver and adrenal glands, where the cells divide and grow and form tumors in these organs. Fluid around the heart is another common complication which causes shortness of breath and discomfort for the patient.