Prognosis and survival for cervical cancer
A prognosis is the doctor’s best estimate of how cancer will affect you and how it will respond to treatment. Survival is the percentage of people with a disease who are alive at some point in time after their diagnosis. Prognosis and survival depend on many factors.
The doctor will look at certain aspects of the cancer as well as characteristics of the person (such as whether they smoke and their age). These are called prognostic factors. The doctor will also look at predictive factors, which influence how a cancer will respond to a certain treatment and how likely it is that the cancer will come back after treatment.
Prognostic and predictive factors are often discussed together. They both play a part in deciding on a prognosis and a treatment plan just for you. Only a doctor familiar with your medical history, the type and stage and other features of the cancer, the treatments chosen and the response to treatment can put all of this information together with survival statistics to arrive at a prognosis and chances of survival.
The following are prognostic factors for cervical cancer.
Stage
The stage of cervical cancer is an important prognostic factor. Early-stage cervical cancer has a better prognosis than later-stage cervical cancer. Tumours that grow into the sides of the pelvis, the connective tissue around the cervix and uterus or other areas in the body have poorer outcomes than cancer that is only in the cervix. Cervical cancer that has spread to lymph nodes has a worse prognosis than cervical cancer that has not spread to lymph nodes.
Lymphovascular invasion
Lymphovascular invasion means that there is cancer in the tumour’s blood vessels or lymph vessels (tubes through which lymph fluid travels in the body). Cancer that has not spread into the blood vessels or lymph vessels is linked with a better prognosis than cancer that has spread to the blood vessels or lymph vessels.
Age and general health
Younger people tend to have a better outlook than older people. Those who have good general health other than the cancer also tend to have a better prognosis.
Smoking
People who smoke tend to have a poorer prognosis than those who don’t smoke.
Other health problems and HIV status
People who have other health problems, including having a weakened immune system or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tend to have a worse prognosis than those who don’t.
Survival statistics for cervical cancer
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