Vaginal cancer is rare. Only about 1 of every 100 cancers of the female reproductive system is a vaginal cancer. The American Cancer Society's most recent estimates for vaginal cancer in the United States are for 2012,
- About 2,680 new cases will be diagnosed
- About 840 women will die of this cancer.
The 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who live at least 5 years after their cancer is diagnosed. Five-year rates are used to produce a standard way of discussing prognosis. Of course, many people live much longer than 5 years. Five-year relative survival rates assumes that people will die of other causes and compares the observed survival with that expected for people without vaginal cancer. This is a more accurate way to describe the prognosis for patients with a particular type and stage of cancer.
For all cases of vaginal cancer combined, the relative 5-year survival is about 50%. For squamous cell carcinoma of the vagina, the relative 5-year survival is 54%, while for adenocarcinoma of the vagina it is almost 60%. For vaginal melanoma, the 5-year relative survival is only 13%.
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