Vaginal cancer is rare and accounts for only about 1% of cancers of the female reproductive system. The American Cancer Society estimates that in the year 2009, about 2,160 new cases of vaginal cancer will be diagnosed in the United States and 770 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. That means that relative survival only talks about deaths from vaginal 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, 5-year relative survival is only 13%.

Last Medical Review: 12/30/2008
Last Revised: 09/14/2009