Prostate Cancer Survival Rate

Survival rates for prostate cancer are usually talked about in terms of a 5-year relative survival rate. (Relative survival means compared to patients who have died specifically from the cancer involved.) This means that the patient will either have a chance of surviving longer than five years or less than five years after diagnosis. At the present time, the chances for exceeding the relative 5-year survival rate are excellent. If the cancer is caught in the earlier stages, treatment options allow the patient a good prognosis.

Now, with annual prostate cancer exams such as the PSA blood test, chances of catching prostate cancer in the earliest stages of development are higher; therefore, the survival rate of diagnosed patients is on the rise.

Statistics
In cancer patients with early stage prostate cancer, the relative 5-year survival rate is 100%. The same patients have a relative ten-year survival rate is 91%. (Patients who die of other causes are not counted in these figures.) The relative fifteen-year survival rate is 76%. In all, the prognosis of prostate cancer, if caught in the earlier stages, is relatively high, which is exceptional.

These are only statistics, and statistics cannot determine what will happen exactly in every diagnosed case of prostate cancer. Each patient is different, as well as the cancer in each patient. Some prostate cancer patients experience such a slow growth that they never experience any type of problems throughout their life. Autopsies have been performed that have revealed that men have had prostate cancer and they and their doctors did not know it.

The relative survival rate for five years refers to patients who were diagnosed and treated more than five years ago. The relative ten-year survival rate refers to patients who were diagnosed and treated more than ten years ago. Along with this information, please keep in mind that medicine and treatments change over time, so patients with more recent diagnoses possibly will have a better prognosis, as medicine usually improves with time.

This type of cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men and accounts for about 10% of cancer related deaths; the first is lung cancer. Approximately one in every 35 men will die from this type of cancer. Every year approximately 192,000 men are diagnosed with this type of cancer. Approximately 27,000 men will die from this type of cancer each year.

Outlook
With advances in medicine, the chances for the survival rate to increase and the death rate to decline among this type of cancer patients is actually very good. This type of cancer clinical trials are constantly being conducted across the globe by many different researchers, in hopes of finding new combinations of therapy, new treatment options, new prevention techniques, and much more. Findings are published so that the scientific community can move forward with additional research. It may take many more years, but eventually a cure will be discovered and cancer patients will overcome their disease.

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