Survival rate indicates the proportion of people with bladder cancer of comparable type and stage who are still alive for some time after diagnosis. This period is usually 5 years. Survival rate indicates the proportion of people with bladder cancer of comparable type and stage who are still alive for some time after diagnosis. This period is usually 5 years.
What is a 5-year survival rate?
Statistics on the evolutionary prospects of a certain type and stage of cancer are often presented in the form of 5-year survival rates, but many people live longer – often much longer – than 5 years.
The 5-year survival rate is the percentage of people who live at least 5 years after a cancer diagnosis is made. For example, a 5-year survival rate of 70% means that 70 out of every 100 people with this cancer are still alive 5 years after being diagnosed.
Relative survival rate
Relative survival rates are a more accurate way to estimate the effect of cancer on survival. These rates compare people with bladder cancer to the general population. For example, if the five-year relative five-year survival rate for a specific stage of bladder cancer is 80%, this means that people with this stage of cancer are, on average, about 80% as likely as people without bladder cancer to live at least five years after diagnosis.
Cancer is not just about survival rates.
Survival rates are often based on the past experience of many people with the disease, but they cannot predict what will happen to a particular person.
There are a number of limitations to remember: The figures below are among the most recent available. But in order to obtain 5-year survival rates, doctors analyzed the fate of people who were treated at least 5 years ago. As treatments improve over time, those diagnosed with bladder cancer may have better prospects than those found in these statistics.
These statistics are based on the stage of cancer at the time it was first diagnosed. They do not apply to cancers that recur or spread later, for example.
Prospects for people with bladder cancer vary depending on the stage (evolution) of the cancer – in general, survival rates are higher in people with early-stage cancer. But there are many other factors that can influence a person’s future prospects, such as age, overall health, and cancer’s response to treatment.
The future prospects of each person depend on these individual factors.
Survival rates in bladder cancer
The most recent statistics, all types of bladder cancer combined, indicate:
- The relative 5-year survival rate is approximately 77%;
- The relative 10-year survival rate is about 70%;
- The relative 15-year survival rate is approximately 65%.
It is important to understand that a 5-year survival rate has been established from patients who were diagnosed and treated more than 5 years ago, a 10-year survival rate has been established based on patients who were diagnosed more than 10 years ago, and a 15-year survival rate has been established for patients diagnosed more than 15 years ago.
Stage survival rates
These survival rates by stage have been determined by including thousands of patients diagnosed with bladder cancer in scientific studies between 1988 and 2001.
The source of these figures is the US National Cancer Institute database.
The relative 5-year survival rate for patients with bladder cancer is 5 years:
- At the 0 stage of approximately 98%.;
- At stage 1 by about 88%;
- At stage 2 by about 63%;
- At stage 3 by about 46%;
- At Stage 4 metastatic cancer is difficult to treat, but there are still treatment options for patients in this situation.
- Carmack AJK, Soloway MS. The diagnosis and staging of bladder cancer from RBCs to TURs. Urology. 2006;67 (suppl 3A): 3-10.
- Howlader N, Noone AM, Krapcho M, et al (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2012, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2012/, based on November 2014 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, April 2015.
- Lynch CF, Davila JA, Platz CE. Cancer of the urinary bladder. In: Ries LAG, Young JL, Keel GE, Eisner MP, Lin YD, Horner M-J, eds. SEER Survival Monograph: Cancer Survival Among Adults: U.S. SEER Program, 1988-2001, Patient and Tumor Characteristics. National Cancer Institute, SEER Program, NIH Pub. No. 07-6215, Bethesda, MD, 2007.