There are several factors that are taken into consideration when medical researchers calculate the kidney cancer survival rate. These factors, of course, include characteristics of the cancer itself. But factors involving the individual patient are important too..
Factors that are connected to kidney cancer itself include the type, stage, grade and the location. A cancer that is localized within the kidney is less dangerous than one that has spread to other parts of the body (a process known as metastasis), and therefore treatment is more likely to be successful. Each individual patient's age, overall health and ability to undergo treatment are important factors related to patients.
Statistics compiled by researchers who have examined data using these factors have produced a general kidney cancer survival rate chart. Just one type of kidney cancer is shown below, but it is far more common than any other variety. It is known as renal cell carcinoma.
When the kidney cancer survival rate is calculated, it's most often expressed as a percentage. That is, it's statistically normal for a certain percent of patients who have the same type of cancer at approximately the same stage to still be alive after a defined period of time.
It should be noted, of course, that every case is different and there's no way to accurately predict how long someone with kidney cancer will live after treatment. The survival rate is a broad-based number based on thousands of cases.
As is the case with most other diseases, the kidney cancer survival rate is measured in five year periods. That is to say, there will still be a certain percentage of kidney cancer patients alive five years after they've been diagnosed.
There are a number of categories in which kidney cancer survival rates can be shown.. The statistics you'll find below reflect research done from 1995-2001. It compares the survival rate of kidney cancer patients to the population as a whole.
This study determined an overall kidney cancer survival rate of 64.6 percent.
By gender and race, the study also found the following.
* 64.7 percent of Caucasian men were still alive after five years
* The percentage of Caucasian women who lived at least five years was similar: 64.5
* The number for African American Men was slightly lower: 61.8 percent
* African American women enjoyed the highest survival rate of all at 65.9 percent
The stage the cancer has reached is also important to know. The stage describes the location of cancer cells. The more the cancer has spread beyond the kidneys, the higher the stage number assigned to it.
53 percent of those with kidney cancer find out they have the disease while it is still confined to the kidneys and has not spread to other tissues or organs (a process known as metastasis).
1 case in 5 or twenty percent is diagnosed after cancer cells have spread beyond the kidneys to nearby lymph nodes, tissues or organs.
22 percent of the time, cancer cells have spread far beyond the primary site (a kidneys or the kidneys) and are now located in other parts of the body.
Staging information was unclear in the remaining cases that were part of the research..
As you would expect, patients who were diagnosed in an early stage were more likely to survive for the longest period of time.
* 90 percent of patients who were diagnosed when the cancer was restricted to the kidneys reached the five year mark.
* When the cancer had spread to the immediate region around the kidneys, those surviving five years or more dropped to 60 percent.
* When the cancer had spread to distant tissues and organs, slightly less than 1 patient in 10 survived five years.
* For the remaining patients in the study, stage information was unclear or unknown.
The highest percentage of kidney cancer occurs in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, along with Northern Europe. The lowest prevalence of kidney cancer is in China, the Philippines, and Thailand. Kidney cancer accounts for approximately three percent of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S.
Kidney cancer is more than twice as likely to occur in smokers as it is in non-smokers, and cancer of the renal pelvis occurs four times as often among those who smoke.
Related topics: kidney cancer survival rate and cancer of the kidneys.
Neal Kennedy is a retired TV and radio reporter. To read more of his articles, click on Kidney Disorders