Stomach Cancer Survival Rate – Dare to Know Your Chances?
Whether or not you want to know your stomach cancer survival rate is definitely up to you. There are people who would prefer to know their chances of surviving cancer but there are also those who rather not want to know in fear of losing hope.
Most cancers are estimated based on a 5 year survival rate. Basically, it’s the percentage of patients who were able to live for at least 5 years following diagnosis. Patients must take into consideration that stomach cancer survival rates will not predict your actual life extension. These numbers are born out of statistical studies conducted to a large scale of people suffering the same disease. Please bear in mind that no two patients are alike and therefore, each cancer case is unique.
There are a lot of patients who have been cured from this type of cancer. Like breast cancer, this disease is curable with the help of early detection, proper staging diagnosis and treatment.
On the other hand, this cancer is also one of those types that have a low percentage of survival. In fact, the Stomach Cancer Survival Rate in a 5-year period regardless of its stage is 1 out of 5 patients. Fortunately, this rate increases if the patient is diagnosed at the early stages. Three out of four patients are reported to survive to 5 years if the cancer was immediately treated before it could affect any surrounding lymph nodes. This is around stage 2 and earlier. Proper stage diagnosis is a crucial part of the treatment program. If you already have some basic knowledge of cancer in general, you’ll notice that the timing of the diagnosis and treatment is an imperative aspect for a patient to have the best possible chance of adding more years in his/her life.
Another factor that may or may not highly affect the over-all Stomach Cancer Survival Rate is the race and sex of a patient. EmedTv reported that in a study they conducted from 1995-2001 in the United States, women have more chances of surviving cancer and even getting cured from it. African American women have the highest Stomach Cancer Survival Rate at 24.2%, this is followed by Caucasian women at 23.9%; African American men at 21.5% and Caucasian men at 19.9%. The exact reason behind these numbers is vague but researchers somehow relate it to women’s tendency to be more cautious of their intake and diet compared to most men.
