Survival rates are often used by doctors as a standard way of discussing a person's prognosis (outlook). Some patients with cancer may want to know the survival statistics for people in similar situations, while others may not find the numbers helpful, or may even not want to know them. Whether or not you want to read about the survival statistics below for lung carcinoid tumors is up to you.
Survival rates are often based on previous outcomes of large numbers of people who had the disease, but they cannot predict what will happen in any particular person's case. Many factors may affect a person's outlook, such as the cancer's stage and your general health. Your doctor can tell you how the numbers below may apply to you, as he or she is familiar with the aspects of your particular situation.
The 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who live at least 5 years after their cancer is diagnosed. Of course, many people live much longer than 5 years (and many are cured).
In order to get 5-year survival rates, doctors have to look at people who were treated at least 5 years ago. Improvements in treatment since then may result in a more favorable outlook for people now being diagnosed with cancer.
Overall, the 5-year survival rate for patients with typical lung carcinoids is around 85% to 90%, and the 5-year survival rate for patients with atypical lung carcinoids is around 50% to 60%. These ranges reflect different survival rates quoted by several medical journal articles.
Median survival is another way to look at the effect of these tumors on lifespan. Median survival is similar to an average. It is the length of time for half of the patients in that series to die. By definition, half of the patients lived longer than that. Statistics for median survival are not available by TNM stage, but instead divided into something called a summary stage. Summary stages are localized (still only in the area where it started), regional (spread to lymph nodes or nearby tissues), or distant (spread to distant organs or tissues. For lung carcinoid tumors the median survival for localized disease is 227 months (about 19 years), for regional disease is 154 months (about 13 years), and for distant disease is about 16 months.
Even with typical carcinoids that appear to have been treated successfully, in a small number of cases the cancer can recur many years later, which is why doctors often advise close follow-up for at least 10 years.
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