Prognosis Of Pancreatic Cancer
Unfortunately, the prognosis of pancreatic cancer is not good. The course that this cancer takes is rather a serious one. The reason can be attributed to its ‘silent’ nature. Pancreatic cancer evades early detection, and it is not until the later stages, even stage 4, that it clearly manifests its symptoms.
Cure rates of pancreatic cancer:
Thanks to the ongoing advancements and research the five-year survival percentage of the pancreatic cancer patients has been increasing. However, it is still considered an incurable ailment. In case of patients who undergo timely resection of the tumor, the survival chance goes up by 20%.
Determiners of prognosis:
- The stage at which the cancer is diagnosed: is most definite estimate of the prognosis. Early detection significantly improves chances of survival. The stage also takes into account the size of the tumor. The size of the tumor is important in determining its clinical and surgical status. A big tumor can also damage surrounding structures, even without invading them. The stage of the cancer also tells if there has been a distant spread of e tumor, in which case, it is an indicator of bad prognosis.
- General health of the patient: is a determiner of how well the patient can respond to the treatments. Cancer therapies are quite vigorous and how the patient’s normal cells put up resistance against this also impacts the prognosis.
- Age of the patient, and the availability of the required treatment options to the patients are other factors which may impact disease prognosis.