What Is The Kidney Cancer Survival Rate?

The number used to report a specific number of people who survive a disease is called a survival rate. The kidney cancer survival rate is the term used to report how many people have survived this type of cancer for a certain period of time. In most cases this amount of time refers to a period of five years. This rate shows how long a person has been known to survive after their initial diagnosis.

These rates are collected from large groups of individuals and are ineffective in determining what will happen in specific cases. The reason for this is because no two people are the same and may react to various treatments in very different ways. Basically what may work for one person may not work for someone else.

There are different factors used in determining a person’s kidney cancer survival rate. Three such factors include the individual’s age, health and stage of cancer. The more progressive the disease is and the longer it goes without detection the lower the survival rate is likely to be.

Survival rates are determined for different reasons and in different ways. One such reason is to help in determining the possible outcome of a person’s likeliness to survive kidney cancer. In the years 2001-2009 this rate was estimated to be an approximate 62-64% for men in general and an approximate 64-66% for women in general dependent on race. African American men appear to have a slightly lower survival rate whereas it appears that African American women may have a slightly higher rate of survival. These figures are estimates and do not reflect exact numbers of individuals surviving for this period of time.

In some cases survival rates can even be determined for a longer period of time although five year increments are the most common when calculating survival rates of different cancers including kidney cancer.

What stage of cancer is present plays a big part in determining the kidney cancer survival rate. Past determinations have shown that over 50% of kidney cancer cases were detected within the early stages and the survival rates for those cases were over 90%. In cases where the cancer had spread to other areas of the body which was just over 20% the survival rate shows at less than 10%. In still other cases approximately 5% where the stage of kidney cancer was undetermined the survival rate was estimated to be at about 30%. Once again these numbers are approximate and do not reflect an exact survival rate for that period of time.

In order to increase the chances of survival it is very important that kidney cancer be diagnosed as soon as possible. This increases the chances of successful treatment thus resulting in higher rates of survival. The sooner kidney cancer is detected the sooner treatment can begin. Some treatments may only be available to individuals in the earlier stages of kidney cancer and may not be a viable option for those in the later stages of the disease.