Lung Cancer - Prognosis

Prognostic factors in non- small-cell lung cancer include presence or absence of pulmonary symptoms, tumor size, cell type (histology), degree of spread (stage) and metastases to multiple lymph nodes, and vascular invasion. For patients with inoperable disease, prognosis is adversely affected by poor performance status and weight loss of more than 10%. Prognostic factors in small-cell lung cancer include performance status, gender, stage of disease, and involvement of the central nervous system or liver at the time of diagnosis.

For non-small cell lung carcinoma, prognosis is generally poor. Following complete surgical resection of stage IA disease, five-year survival is 67%. With stage IB disease, five-year survival is 57%. The 5-year survival rate of patients with stage IV NSCLC is about 1%.

For small cell lung carcinoma, prognosis is also generally poor. The overall five-year survival for patients with SCLC is about 5%. Patients with extensive-stage SCLC have an average five-year survival rate of less than 1%. The median survival time for limited-stage disease is 20 months, with a five-year survival rate of 20%.

According to data provided by the National Cancer Institute, the median age of incidence of lung cancer is 70 years, and the median age of death by lung cancer 71 years.