Contents:
- Medical Video: What Is The Prognosis For Liver Cancer? - Manipal Hospital
- How to calculate life expectancy?
Medical Video: What Is The Prognosis For Liver Cancer? - Manipal Hospital
When diagnosed with liver cancer, your doctor may often discuss your life expectancy. Life expectancy is the percentage of people who have the same condition and survive for a certain period of time after the diagnosis. This is important when determining your prognosis. Although this number is only a percentage based on the population, it is important to remember that the situation for everyone is different. This depends on the availability of newer treatments and your overall health.
Survival rates can describe the length of time. Can be more than 1 year, 5 years or even 10 years. In general, the survival rate is mostly more than 5 years, also known as the 5-year survival rate. This does not mean you will live only for 5 years. Survival refers to the number of people who have had cancer for at least 5 years after diagnosis. Of course there are many people who live longer than 5 years. This number will help you discuss with your doctor for the best treatment options for your condition.
How to calculate life expectancy?
You might wonder how the 5-year life expectancy is calculated. To get this number, researchers must look at the number of people who survived liver cancer after 5 years of being diagnosed. Without looking carefully at the cancer rate or its treatment, this number is called the overall level. For example, the overall 5-year survival rate of liver cancer is 50%. This means that 50% of people with liver cancer have lived for 5 years after diagnosis, without taking into account the complications that might occur.
For doctors, the overall level is usually too general to determine the right prognosis. A more specific survival rate and taking into account the severity of the cancer and its complications are called relative survival rates. According to National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SIER), they collected data from patients with liver cancer between 2003 and 2009. The results accounted for 3 cancer groups, as follows:
- Localized. This indicates that cancer cells have not spread and are limited in the liver, which includes stage I, II and several stages III. The 5-year relative survival rate is 28%.
- Regional. This explains that cancer has spread to nearby organs or lymph nodes, including IIC and IVA stages. 5 year relative survival rate is 7%.
- Distant. This means that the cancer has spread far to the organs and tissues that enter the stage IVB. The 5 year relative survival rate is 2%.
Relative survival rates are generally used to determine the benefits and risks of certain treatment options or patients. The earlier you are diagnosed, the better your chance to survive.
There are many other factors that can affect survival rates, such as overall patient health, treatment, and how well their body responds to cancer treatment. Taking into account all of these factors, life expectancy is the best rough estimate. Your doctor can tell you the life expectancy of patients treated from 5 years ago, but improvements in treatment since then can result in more beneficial results for people currently diagnosed with liver cancer.
There is no statistical data that can tell you what will happen. Your body is different and unique. The same type of cancer can develop at different levels in each individual. Statistical data is not enough to tell you about the treatment each of these individuals is doing and how the treatment affects them. There are many individual aspects that will determine your treatment. This is all back to the best treatment for you and how your body will respond during and after treatment. It is very important to discuss with your doctor about these numbers and their relationship with you.
