Pancreatic cancer is a highly malignant tumor, with a large number of information such as "average survival is less than 6 months" and "5-year survival rate is less than 1%", giving people a feeling of incurability and putting patients and families under a lot of psychological pressure.
But how long will pancreatic cancer live? In fact, there are still some differences in the survival time of pancreatic cancer patients of different types and treatments.
First, some pancreatic cancer patients can still achieve long-term survival
Because survival cannot be accurately predicted, the survival of tumors is generally described in medicine by 1-year, 3-year, 5-year, or 10-year survival rates, of which 5-year survival rates are the most common. Statistics from the American Cancer Society show that patients with early-stage (stage I) pancreatic cancer have a 5-year survival rate of more than 10 percent [1]. It can be seen that if pancreatic malignant tumors can be detected early, some patients can still achieve better treatment results.
In addition, we often say that pancreatic cancer refers to pancreatic exocrine carcinoma, pancreatic malignancy, there is another type of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, the treatment effect is better, early tumor patients 5-year survival rate of more than 50%.
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Second, the staging of tumors affects survival time
The survival time of tumor patients is closely related to the stage of tumor, and US data show that the 5-year survival rate of pancreatic exocrine carcinoma with different stages is as follows[1]:
5-year survival rate for stage I.A pancreatic cancer can reach 14%, and stage IB is about 12%.
The 5-year survival rate for stage II.A pancreatic cancer is approximately 7% and for stage II.B is about 5%.
Stage III pancreatic cancer has a 5-year survival rate of about 3%.
The 5-year survival rate for stage IV pancreatic cancer is approximately 1%.
5-year survival rates for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors of different stages are much better[1] :
I. Period approximately 61%.
The II. phase is approximately 52%.
Phase III. is approximately 41%.
The IV. period is 16%.
It can be seen that, as with other types of tumors, the survival of pancreatic cancer in different stages varies greatly and cannot be generalized.
Third, the treatment mode also plays an important role in the survival time of pancreatic cancer
The best treatment method for pancreatic cancer is multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment (MDT), that is, according to the patient's specific condition, comprehensive multidisciplinary opinions, scientific, reasonable and standardized treatment, to achieve the effect of "1+1>2".
For example, in suitable patients, radical surgical resection can significantly prolong survival of pancreatic cancer, and necessary adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery can also significantly prolong survival. Even for inoperable advanced pancreatic cancer, according to the patient's physical condition, moderate choice of anti-tumor therapy such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy and systemic supportive therapy can improve the quality of life and prolong survival.
Of course, pancreatic cancer, as a malignant tumor, still poses a great threat to human life. However, with the progress of research, it is still possible to improve survival rate in the future. Therefore, pancreatic cancer patients should still maintain a positive and optimistic attitude, not be intimidated by the disease, choose appropriate treatment, improve the quality of life, and prolong the survival time.
bibliography:
[1] Pancreatic Cancer Survival Rates, by Stage[J/OL].https://www.cancer.org/cancer/pancreatic-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/survival-rates.html.
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