Brain Cancer Prognosis - A Serious Matter
Is there ever such a thing as a positive brain cancer prognosis? While we would love to tell you that this form of cancer has a high long-term survival rate, the best we can do is offer a degree of hope for those whose conditions are discovered in the early stages.
In the case of metastatic brain cancerprognosis, which addresses the type of cancer in which cells have spread to other parts of the body, the outlook is particularly grim.Indeed, patients suffering from metastatic brain cancer generally die within a two-year period.
Stage 4 brain cancer prognosis is also no light matter, as stage 4 represents the most advanced stage of this dreaded disease; one that claims many lives each year. Unfortunately, most patients die between nine and 12 months following diagnosis.
In its earlier stages, the typical prognosis and survival rate for brain cancer are more difficult to pinpoint; and perhaps that’s a good thing. As it turns out, a solid percentage of those facing a stage 3 cancer prognosis and a secondary brain cancer prognosis (the typically stated percentage is a little over 30 percent) survive to the five year mark—perhaps even longer.
Perhaps the seeming lack of definitive survival rates for brain cancer patients—at least those still facing the early stages of their disease—is somewhat of a positive sign. It means that, as medical technology moves forward at a breakneck pace—and as doctors race to find new therapies, surgeries and medicines to help cancer patients—cancer patients are living longer; even those diagnosed with brain cancer, which ranks among the most severe and traumatic forms of this dreaded disease.
True, the aggressive brain cancer prognosis is still fairly grim; though modest gains are being made in the ongoing fight against more advanced forms of cancer. Regardless of the cancer stage that a particular patient faces, his/her doctor likely will try to combat the disease with a steady regimen of drugs, diet, chemotherapy and radiation, and—in all likelihood—more than one surgery. Even if these measures fail to save the patient’s life, they may serve to prolong and/or improve the quality of those lives.
Especially if the disease is caught in its early stages, a cancer diagnosis does not have to be a death notice. And while a standard brain cancer prognosis is usually far from positive, it too is not an automatic death sentence.