Pancreatic cancer lifespan, or the prognosis you can expect to deal with after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, depends on a number of important factors. For example, the survival statistics that your doctor will give you will depend largely on the stage that the cancer is in when you are diagnosed. As with all other forms of cancer, pancreatic cancer lifespan is likely to decrease with the advancement of the disease.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest threats with pancreatic cancer is that many cases are not detected until the disease has already spread and progressed into other parts of the body.
Understanding the Stages of Pancreatic Cancer:
Staging the progression of a cancer will help a doctor and the team of individuals responsible for managing your care to understand how advanced the cancer is, as well as which treatment forms may be most effective. Knowing the stage of your cancer is crucial when it comes to selecting the best therapy and treatment options, and it also plays a significant role in your outlook for the future.
Most pancreatic cancers are staged on a scale of zero to four, and stage 0 pancreatic cancer is regarded as being not-invasive, meaning that you will have the best projected pancreatic cancer lifespan. Noninvasive cancer has not yet spread beyond the top layers of the pancreatic duct, making it much easier to target. On the other hand, by stage four of the disease, the most advanced level of cancer, the cells have spread beyond the pancreas and often into various locations throughout the body. Advanced stage cancers spread beyond the original tumor location, and into nearby blood vessels, tissues, organs, and nerves.
Pancreatic Cancer Lifespan According to Stage:
If you've been diagnosed as having a particular stage of pancreatic cancer then you are properly curious about your specific prognosis. This prognosis will be based on an evaluation of data gathered about people who had the same type and level of cancer as you are. In some cases, the statistics may be upsetting, whereas in other situations you may find them to be comforting. Often, outlooks are given in the form of a five-year survival rate, which will refer to your chances of living for at least five years following your initial diagnosis. While most survival rates will not regard any time after the initial five years, it's important to remember that many people will live well beyond those five years.
In people who have been treated for their cancer with surgery, the survival rates are often much better. For example, with surgery, the stage 1 survival rate is 61%, stage 2 is 52%, stage 3 is 41%, and stage 4 is 16%.
It's important for anyone considering survival statistics to know that the prognosis numbers that are given will be based on treatments and technologies that were often used a long time ago. As such, a prognosis may be much better today than you expect as technology is rapidly advancing. Make sure that you talk to your doctor about exactly what your prognosis numbers mean.