Brain Cancer Survival Rate

People suffering from brain cancer constitute approximately 2 percent of the total cancer patients in the United States. At 2 percent it may not seem to be a significant number, but statistics speak otherwise. One of the most dangerous ailments in the world, brain cancer causes around 13000 deaths every year in the United States alone. In fact, its survival rates stand at just above 30 percent, suggesting that the life expectancy of a person suffering from the ailment, without proper medical care, is just one or two years.

Brain Cancer: Overview

Brain tumor is an abnormal growth of the cells in brain. Some tumors are malignant (cancerous), while some are benign (non-cancerous). Basically, brain cancer is classified into two types - primary brain cancer, wherein the growth of the cancerous cells begin right in the brain, and secondary brain cancer, wherein the growth begins in other parts of the body and eventually metastasizes to the brain. Its symptoms range from sleepiness and confusion, to more severe symptoms like seizures and behavioral changes in the person. Primary brain cancers include ependymoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma among others, while secondary brain cancer includes metastasis from lung cancer and breast cancer. Complete treatment is almost impossible, and the only few methods of treatment available focus on improving the quality of life, rather than curing the cancer completely.

Survival Rates

On an average, the survival rate for an individual with malignant brain cancer is only one or two years. Overall survival rates stage 4 brain cancer are 33 percent, while average life expectancy ranges between 6 months to 1 year after diagnosis. More importantly, patients suffering from benign brain tumor show better survival rates than their counterparts with a malignant tumor. Several factors play a vital role in determining whether the particular person will survive brain cancer or not, these factors include:

• Type of brain cancer
• The size and location of the tumor
• The stage of the cancer
• The grade of the cancer
• General health of the person

Sooner the ailment is diagnosed, more are the chances of survival for the person. At 33 percent, the five year relative survival rate from brain cancer is the sixth lowest among various other cancers.

Age-wise Brain Cancer Survival Rate
Age	Survival Rates (%)
< 14	73
14-44	55
45-64	16
> 65	5

As you see in the table above, the survival rate and age of the person have an inverse relationship. The survival rate in children, which is somewhere between 70-80% if the cancer has not spread and a complete surgical resection is feasible, drops down to 30 to 40% if the cancerous cells have spread to other parts.

These survival rates are based on the study of a group of cancer patients, and hence, shouldn't be used to predict the future of an individual case. Each person differs from another, and therefore, each patient responds differently to the treatment process he is subjected to. Some patients may live for a longer duration than the average life expectancy mentioned above, while some may live only for a shorter duration.

Basically, brain cancer is one of the most gruesome ailments whose survival rate has changed little over the last century. In the future, however, we can hope to find some method to treat this life-threatening condition either totally, or at least by bringing down the mortality rate by a substantial margin.