Survival Rates for Nasopharyngeal Cancer

Survival rates are a way to measure how many people survive a certain type of cancer over time. They can’t tell you what will happen with any one person, but they may help you better understand how likely it is that your treatment will be successful.

Keep in mind that survival rates are estimates. These statistics can be confusing and may raise more questions for you. Ask your cancer care team how these numbers might apply to your situation.

What is a 5-year relative survival rate?

A relative survival rate compares people with the same type and stage of cancer to people in the overall population.

For example, if the 5-year relative survival rate for a specific stage of nasopharyngeal cancer is 80%, it means that on average, people who have that cancer are about 80% as likely as people who don’t have that cancer to live for at least 5 years after being diagnosed.

Where do these numbers come from?

The American Cancer Society relies on information from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, maintained by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), to provide survival statistics for different types of cancer.

The SEER database tracks 5-year relative survival rates for nasopharyngeal cancer in the United States, based on how far the cancer has spread. However, the SEER database doesn’t group cancers by AJCC TNM stages (stage I, stage II, stage III, etc.). Instead, it groups cancers into localized, regional, and distant stages:

• Localized: There is no sign that the cancer has spread outside the nasopharynx.
• Regional: The cancer has spread outside the nasopharynx to nearby structures or lymph nodes.
• Distant: The cancer has spread to distant parts of the body, such as the lungs or liver.

5-year relative survival rates for nasopharyngeal cancer

These numbers are based on people diagnosed with cancers of the nasopharynx between 2015 and 2021.

SEER stage	5-year relative survival rate
Localized	86%
Regional	79%
Distant	40%

 

Understanding the numbers

These numbers apply only to the stage of the cancer when it is first diagnosed. They don’t apply later on if the cancer grows, spreads, or comes back after treatment.

These numbers don’t take everything into account. Survival rates for nasopharyngeal cancer are grouped based on how far the cancer has spread. But your outlook can be affected by other factors, such as your age and overall health, how well the cancer responds to treatment, and the levels of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in your blood before treatment.

Treatments improve over time. People now being diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer may have a better outlook than these numbers show. These numbers are based on people who were diagnosed and treated at least 5 years earlier.