prognosis liver cancer

What Is a Prognosis?

A prognosis gives an idea of the likely course and outcome of a disease -- that is, the chance that a patient will recover or have a recurrence (return of the cancer). Many factors affect a person's prognosis. Some of the most important are:

1.     The type and location of the cancer
2.     The stage of the disease (the extent to which the cancer has metastasized, or spread)
3.     Its grade (how abnormal the cancer cells look and how quickly the cancer is likely to grow and spread).

    

Other factors that may also affect the prognosis include the person's age, general health, and response to treatment.

When doctors consider a person's prognosis, they carefully weigh all the factors that could affect that person's disease and treatment, and then try to predict what might happen. The doctor bases the prognosis on information researchers have collected over many years about hundreds, or even thousands, of people with cancer. When possible, the doctor uses statistics based on groups of people whose situations are most similar to that of an individual patient.

The doctor may speak of a favorable prognosis if the cancer is likely to respond well to treatment. The prognosis may be unfavorable if the cancer is likely to be difficult to control. It is important to keep in mind, however, that a prognosis is only a prediction. The doctor cannot be absolutely certain about the outcome for a particular patient.

Factors Affecting a Liver Cancer Prognosis

The American Cancer Society estimates that 18,510 men and women (12,600 men and 5,910 women) will be diagnosed with liver cancer and that 16,200 men and women will die of liver cancer in 2006.

The liver cancer prognosis depends on:

    The stage of the cancer (the size of the tumor, whether it affects part or all of the liver, or has spread to other places in the body)

1.     How well the liver is working.
2.     The patient's general health, including whether there is cirrhosis of the liver
3.     Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels.

What Are Survival Rates?

Survival rates indicate the percentage of people with a certain type and stage of cancer who survive the disease for a specific period of time after their diagnosis. Often, statistics refer to the five-year survival rate, which means the percentage of people who are still alive five years after diagnosis and whether they have few or no signs or symptoms of cancer, are free of disease, or are receiving treatment. Survival rates are based on large groups of people. They cannot be used to predict what will happen to a particular patient. No two patients are exactly alike, and liver cancer treatment and responses to treatment vary greatly.

Liver Cancer Prognosis and Survival Rates

Survival rates can be calculated by different methods for different purposes. The liver cancer survival rates presented here are based on the relative survival rate, which measures the survival of the cancer patients in comparison to the general population to estimate the effect of cancer. The overall five-year relative liver cancer survival rate for 1995-2001 was 9.0 percent.

Five-year relative survival rates for liver cancer by race and sex were:

•     7.4 percent for white men
•     10.6 percent for white women
•     5.5 percent for black men
•     4.6 percent for black women.