A five-year prostate cancer survival rate tells us the percentage of people with the same stage of cancer who are alive five years after diagnosis. A 10-year survival rate tells us the percentage of people with the same stage of cancer who are alive 10 years after diagnosis.
Remember that every case is different and the numbers are just guidelines. It’s important to know that these statistics don’t estimate prostate cancer life expectancy. In other words, they don’t tell you how long you’ll live, but they can give you an idea of how successful treatment might be based on how advanced the cancer is.
Overall, the five-year relative survival rate for prostate cancer in the United States is close to 100 percent. But the survival rate for an individual diagnosed with prostate cancer will vary depending on how advanced the cancer is.
The American Cancer Society estimates five-year survival rates using the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) database from the National Cancer Institute to group prostate cancer into three stages: localized, regional, and distant, based on how far the cancer has spread.
Localized There is no sign that the cancer has spread outside the prostate. The five-year survival rate is greater than 99 percent.
Regional The cancer has spread to nearby structures or lymph nodes. The five-year survival rate remains greater than 99 percent.
Distant The cancer has spread to parts of the body far from the prostate (lungs, liver, bones). The five-year survival rate is 37 percent.
The estimates apply only to the stage of cancer when it is diagnosed. These numbers also don’t say how long you can live with stage 4 prostate cancer, with or without treatment. Every case is unique, and life expectancy with prostate cancer is affected by many factors, such as age, overall health, and how well the body responds to treatment.
Importantly, survival estimates are “backwards looking,” meaning they are based on previous outcomes of people with prostate cancer, and they might not be predictive for someone who is diagnosed today. That could be good news when considering the five-year survival rate for prostate cancer that has spread to distant parts of the body.
According to William Dahut, MD, chief scientific officer of the American Cancer Society, there are newer therapies that could improve prostate cancer survival at this distant stage. “Over the last 10 or 15 years, we’ve developed better hormonal therapy, more potent combination therapy for advanced disease, mutation-driven hormonal therapy, and immunotherapy for select patients that can prolong life,” he says.