HelpLine 1-800-298-2436  About Statistics, Prognosis and
Survival Rates  Some people diagnosed with lung cancer want to
know how long they are going to live. Others don’t want to know
but a doctor may offer an estimate without being asked. It’s
difficult to go online without encountering prognosis and
survival rates for lung cancer but what do these terms mean?
Prognosis refers to the likely outcome, or forecast, of a
disease. For cancer, it refers to the chance of recovery or
recurrence. The prognosis for lung cancer is an estimate based
on the course of the disease taken from studying hundreds or
thousands of people who have been diagnosed.  Survival rate is
the percentage of people with a type and stage of cancer who
survive a specific period of time after diagnosis.  It is a
common way in which prognosis is discussed. In cancer, five year
survival rates are often used.  What does this mean for you?
While statistics can tell us many things about prognosis and
survival, it is not possible to predict how l