How likely am I going to survive if my pancreatic cancer is inoperable?
To answer the question of survival after cancer, a few concepts need to be established:
- As mentioned above, the measure of survival is the 5-year-survival rate. However, surviving for more than 5 years following diagnosis does not mean a cure. Patients can have a recurrence any time following initial diagnosis and treatment. That is why follow-up both by clinic visits and imaging studies is essential for patients recovering from pancreatic cancer.
- Survival is not only related to the treatment received. Although early surgery is crucial to long term survival, individual factors like age, general health and the
- the aggressiveness of primary cancer.
It is quite difficult to place a solid number for months of survival following treatment. Only about a fifth of patients are eligible for surgery at the time of diagnosis, and in those patients, only 20% can live for more than 5 years. In those patients who had already developed advanced disease or metastases (systemic spread of cancer), the median survival is 6 months.