| SEER Stage | 5-year Relative Survival Rate |
|---|---|
| Localized* | 99% |
| Regional | 86% |
| Distant | 29% |
| All SEER stages combined | 90% |
What is the life expectancy of someone with breast cancer?
Can you live 20 years with breast cancer? On average, 83% of people who receive a diagnosis of breast cancer live for 10 years or longer. Can you have cancer for 10 years and not know? But other cancers can form and grow undetected for 10 years or more, as one study found, making diagnosis and treatment that much more difficult.
What are the chances of surviving breast cancer?
Oct 04, 2017 · Survival rates are a way for health care professionals to discuss the prognosis and outlook of a cancer diagnosis with their patients. The number most frequently discussed is five-year survival. It is the percentage of patients who live at least five years after they are diagnosed with cancer. Many of these patients live much longer, and some patients die earlier from …
What is the survival rate of breast cancer?
Dec 03, 2018 · There is little research looking at the optimal time until treatment for metastatic breast cancer, though it appears that waiting more than 12 weeks has been linked with lower survival. In general, however, the goal of treatment with MBC is different than early stage disease.
What happens if breast cancer goes untreated?
General Surgery 53 years experience. Depends.: There are some patients with breast cancer (such as dcis) can lived for many, many years with the cancer doing nothing. Some people will die very quic... Read More. 6.2k views Answered >2 years ago. Thank.
How long can you live after breast cancer treatment?
The overall 5-year relative survival rate for breast cancer is 90%. This means 90 out of 100 women are alive 5 years after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer. The 10-year breast cancer relative survival rate is 84% (84 out of 100 women are alive after 10 years).May 13, 2020
Can you live 30 years after breast cancer?
Most breast cancer cases are highly treatable, especially when a doctor diagnoses them at an early stage. Many people survive for years or even decades after getting a breast cancer diagnosis and receiving treatment.Dec 1, 2021
Can you live 20 years with breast cancer?
Since the hazard rate associated with inflammatory breast cancer shows a sharp peak within the first 2 years and a rapid reduction in risk in subsequent years, it is highly likely that the great majority of patients alive 20 years after diagnosis are cured.
What's the longest you can live with breast cancer?
The NCI reports that 90.3 percent of women with breast cancer survive 5 years after diagnosis. This survival rate includes all women with breast cancer, regardless of the stage....5-year survival rates for men.Cancer stage5-year survival rateRegional83%Distant22%All stages combined84%1 more row
Can breast cancer be fully cured?
There is no “natural” cure for breast cancer. Medical treatments are necessary to remove, shrink, or slow the growth of tumors. That said, you may use certain complementary therapies and lifestyle changes alongside standard medical treatments to help: control symptoms of breast cancer.May 4, 2021
Can breast cancer be cured forever?
The answer is yes, with caveats. In particular, noninvasive (in situ) cancers are associated with a very high cure rate, but even advanced tumors have been successfully treated.
Can you live with untreated breast cancer?
Median survival time of the 250 patients followed to death was 2.7 years. Actuarial 5- and 10-year survival rates for these patients with untreated breast cancer was 18.4% and 3.6%, respectively. For the amalgamated 1,022 patients, median survival time was 2.3 years.
Is breast cancer a death sentence?
"Breast Cancer is Not a Death Sentence" | Partners In Health.Oct 20, 2021
Does having breast cancer shorten life expectancy?
Breast cancer has a relatively high survival rate. An estimated 9 out of 10 people who have breast cancer are still alive five years after they were diagnosed, according to the American Cancer Society. The problem, however, is women tend to gain weight during breast cancer treatment.Jan 23, 2018
How quickly does breast cancer spread?
According to the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center at Providence Portland Medical Center, breast cancer cells need to divide at least 30 times before they are detectable by physical exam. Each division takes about 1 to 2 months, so a detectable tumor has likely been growing in the body for 2 to 5 years.Apr 2, 2021
What is the longest someone has lived with Stage 4 breast cancer?
Stage 4: Kim Green Has Lived With Metastatic Breast Cancer For Past 19 Years. Kim Green defies the odds for those living with incurable metastatic breast cancer. Her mother died of metastatic breast cancer at 37, but Green has been living with it for 19 years.Sep 28, 2018
Which cancer has the lowest survival rate?
The cancers with the lowest five-year survival estimates are mesothelioma (7.2%), pancreatic cancer (7.3%) and brain cancer (12.8%). The highest five-year survival estimates are seen in patients with testicular cancer (97%), melanoma of skin (92.3%) and prostate cancer (88%).May 25, 2021
Ask the experts
My mother is fairly young (early 50s), and she was just diagnosed with breast cancer. I'm trying to figure out what I should expect going forward. How long can breast cancer patients live?
Doctor's response
Survival rates are a way for health care professionals to discuss the prognosis and outlook of a cancer diagnosis with their patients. The number most frequently discussed is five-year survival. It is the percentage of patients who live at least five years after they are diagnosed with cancer.
How soon after a diagnosis can you have surgery?
For women who are young (defined as 15 to 39), a 2013 study in JAMA Surgery suggested that young women should have surgery no more than six weeks after diagnosis and preferably earlier. This study of close to 9,000 women found 5-year survival rates as follows: 4
What is the goal of MBC?
With MBC, the goal is often to use the least amount of treatment necessary to control the disease .
Is it good to get a second opinion?
Getting a second opinion is almost always a good idea. Not only do doctors have different levels of experience and interest, but having a second opinion can be reassuring if you ever look back and question your choices. Make sure any medical conditions you have are under good control.
What is the Sage program?
Programs such as the SAGE program are available, as well as many other assistance programs that can help with anything from transportation to childcare.
Can you have a child after breast cancer treatment?
For young women with breast cancer, time to see a fertility specialist to talk about fertility preservation. Chemotherapy often leads to infertility, but there are measures you can take beforehand if you wish to have a child after treatment. Time to get a second opinion.
How long can you live with stage 4 breast cancer?
Being a long term survivor is usually defined as living five or more years beyond a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer. Living 10 or more years isn't unheard of, and the 10-year survival rate for primary or "de novo" metastatic breast cancer is around 13%. (This rate is based on de novo cases or cases in which stage 4 was the initial diagnosis.)
What is the goal of breast cancer?
With early-stage breast cancer, the goal is usually to be aggressive in order to reduce the risk that the cancer will come back. In contrast, with stage 4 disease, the goal is usually to use the minimum amount of treatment possible to control the disease (at least at the current time).
What are the factors that affect the survival of breast cancer?
Some of these factors may be "actionable," meaning there are things people can do that may affect their prognosis, while many are not. Some factors associated with survival include: 1 Type: Some types of breast cancer are associated with better survival rates than others. 2 Age: While breast cancer has the reputation of being more aggressive in younger women, young women are more likely to become long-term survivors of breast cancer than older women. 3 Receptor status: People who have positive receptors (whether estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, or HER2) tend to live longer than those who have negative receptors—especially triple negative disease. 4 Location of metastases: Breast cancer metastases to bones are associated with a higher survival rate than metastases to other regions such as the lungs, liver, and brain. 5 Treatment choices: This includes treatment of oligometastases. A 2019 study found that treating oligometastases (usually up to five areas) can sometimes significantly improve survival. 6 Physical activity 7 Emotional and social support: People who have a supportive partner are more likely to live longer, and having a partner is one of the factors associated with long-term survival. 8 General health: General health plays a significant role in survival rates, and also affects the treatments that a person will be able to tolerate. 9 Cancer-related complications: Complications of advanced breast cancer such as blood clots, fractures, malignant pleural effusions, and more can decrease the projected life expectancy.
What are the symptoms of stage 4 breast cancer?
Coping with the many symptoms that can occur with stage 4 breast cancer can be frustrating and discouraging, and people sometimes wonder if they will have to feel poorly the rest of their lives. Anxiety and depression are also severe for some people with advanced disease.
Is breast cancer more aggressive in younger women?
Age: While breast cancer has the reputation of being more aggressive in younger women, young women are more likely to become long-term survivors of breast cancer than older women.
Is immunotherapy effective for breast cancer?
In addition, the newer immunotherapy drugs (while not as effective with breast cancer as some other cancers) have led to a durable response, or long-term response, for at least some people with advanced breast cancers. Another area of treatment that is changing is the treatment of oligometastases.
Does breast cancer cause bone pain?
Metastatic breast cancer often comes with more symptoms as well, such as bone pain due to bone metastases and itching with liver metastases. On top of all of this (and despite all of the "awareness" that has taken place), people with stage 4 disease may feel left out among the breast cancer community.
How long does it take to get back to normal after breast cancer?
After a marathon of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment that may last six months to a year , you can hardly wait to get back to a normal life again. But the day of your last radiation treatment or chemotherapy infusion doesn't mark the end of your journey with breast cancer.
What does "Chemobrain" mean?
By Gina Shaw. "Chemobrain" and Other After-Effects. A Chance to Make Some Life Choices. Life after breast cancer means returning to some familiar things and also making some new choices. The song says "It ain't over 'til it's over," but when you've had breast cancer, you discover that it's not even over when it's over.
Who is Gina Shaw?
Let the less-important ones slide or find someone else to do them. Gina Shaw is a medical writer who was treated for breast cancer in 2004, and now calls herself a "joyful breast cancer survivor.". Pagination.
Is breast cancer a marathon?
It can feel like an endless process.". Breast cancer survivorship, Weiss observes, is a marathon, not a sprint. That means learning to handle the symptoms that stick around after treatment ends, says Sloan-Kettering's McCabe, by using those adaptive strategies you learned while on chemotherapy or recovering from surgery.
Can breast cancer survivors survive?
Women with breast cancer, like other people with a cancer diagnosis, are now surviving for so much longer, and in such large numbers, that some hospitals are opening entire departments devoted to survivorship The National Cancer Institute has also launched a special research area dedicated to studying what it means to survive cancer. Â.
Why is triple negative breast cancer the most aggressive?
Probably not long.: Triple negative breast cancer is the most aggressive breast cancer, because it grows and spreads fast and there are fewer options for treatment. If n ... Read More
How long does it take for a doctor to answer a question?
Ask U.S. doctors your own question and get educational, text answers — it's anonymous and free! Doctors typically provide answers within 24 hours.
Do women die from breast cancer?
It depends.: The reality is that more than half of all women diagnosed with breast cancer will not die from breast cancer. While it is impossible to predict the t ... Read More
How long can a woman live with breast cancer?
When a woman is diagnosed as being at an advanced stage of breast cancer, her doctor may tell her that she has mere months to live, but a variety of factors could result in an individual living longer than expected.
What is the survival rate of cancer?
If the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes (glands near the neck, armpits and groin that filter and transport certain fluids), the survival rate for the five years is at 83.6 percent. Once the cancer has spread throughout the body to larger sections of tissue or vital origins, the survivability rate declines to 23.4 percent. It can be assumed that most of the people who make up these statistics were receiving treatment, so life expectancy will be lower for those who are not.
What is the staging of breast cancer?
According to a Mayo Clinic website discussing the staging of breast cancer, the staging of breast cancer is a way of measuring how large a breast cancer tumor is and how far the cancer has spread.
What does it mean when a breast cancer patient has a regression?
According to a CNN report, there are only 32 documented cases of this phenomenon.When speaking of cancer, regression means the size of a tumor has gotten smaller or that the amount of cancer in the body is reduced. This does not change the fact that people with a cancer diagnosis are still advised to seek treatment.
Where is Ray Montoya?
Ray Ray Montoya is the son of two English majors and has himself followed suit. He received his bachelor's degree from Northern Michigan University in 2006 and two years later received his M.A. from the same institution. He currently teaches at a community college in Michigan and writes for various websites.
Can breast cancer be treated?
Some women suffering from breast cancer refuse treatment. Some choose faith in a higher power over medicine, some feel the treatment will be worse than the disease, others may distrust the medical establishment.
Variables
Survival Rates
- The overall five-year survival rate for metastatic breast cancer is reported as 27% by the National Cancer Institute looking at data from 2008 to 2014. This same rate is 22% as reported by the American Cancer Society, with the median survival time (the amount of time after which 50% of people are still alive and 50% have passed away) at three years.
Long-Term Survivors
- Being a long term survivor is usually defined as living five or more years beyond a diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer. Living 10 or more years isn't unheard of, and the 10-year survival ratefor primary or "de novo" metastatic breast cancer is around 13%. (This rate is based on de novo cases or cases in which stage 4 was the initial diagnosis.)
Coping
- Coping with stage 4 breast cancer is challenging, and it is very different than coping with early-stage disease. For those who originally faced early-stage breast cancer, not only do they need to face cancer again but this time they aren't dealing with a disease that can potentially be cured. Metastatic breast cancer often comes with more symptoms as well, such as bone pain due to b…
A Word from Verywell
- In talking about statistics, it's important to know that people aren't statistics. Even with factors that may increase or decrease the prognosis, survival is very variable between different people.