Stage 2 cancer is a bit more serious than stage 1 cancer, but with early treatment, patients can be completely cured of the disease. The recurrence rate is also low if treated immediately. However, cancer is a highly progressive disease that spreads at an increased rate.
Based on cancer type and other factors—such as the size of the tumor and how far it has spread—stage 2 non-small cell lung cancer has a five-year survival rate of between 53% and 60%. 1 Life expectancy is influenced by several factors, not the least of which is the progression of the disease from stage 1.
Stage 2. Around 90 out of 100 women (around 90%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
The five-year survival rate of stage 2A breast cancer patients is 98 percent, and for 2B, it's 95.6 percent, according to data published in the American Cancer Society journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians in 2017.
stage 2 – the cancer has grown, but hasn't spread. stage 3 – the cancer is larger and may have spread to the surrounding tissues and/or the lymph nodes (or "glands", part of the immune system)
Stage 2 cancer refers to larger tumors or cancers that have grown more deeply into nearby tissue. In this stage, the cancer may have spread to the lymph nodes, but not to other parts of the body. While it's not considered advanced cancer, stage 2 cancers are more advanced than stage 1 cancers.
Stage 2 breast cancer generally has a good prognosis and can be cured with treatments. On average, 7 to 11 percent of women with early breast cancer may experience a local recurrence in the first five years following treatment.
The stage assigned to your cancer at the time of diagnosis does not change, even if you later go into remission or the disease grows worse.
Stage 4 cancer usually can't be cured. In addition, because it's usually spread throughout the body by the time it's diagnosed, it is unlikely the cancer can be completely removed. The goal of treatment is to prolong survival and improve your quality of life.
The cancers with the lowest five-year survival estimates are mesothelioma (7.2%), pancreatic cancer (7.3%) and brain cancer (12.8%). The highest five-year survival estimates are seen in patients with testicular cancer (97%), melanoma of skin (92.3%) and prostate cancer (88%).
Stage 2 usually means that the tumour is larger than in stage 1 but the cancer hasn't started to spread into the surrounding tissues. Sometimes stage 2 means that cancer cells have spread into lymph nodes close to the tumour. This depends on the particular type of cancer.
About 18% of cancer survivors have survived 20 or more years after diagnosis. 64% of survivors are age 65 or older.
Systemic drug treatments, such as targeted therapy or chemotherapy, are common for stage 4 cancers. Often, a clinical trial may be an option, offering new treatments to help the patient fight stage 4 cancer.
In 2023, an estimated 609,820 people will die of cancer in the United States. Lung and bronchus cancer is responsible for the most deaths with 127,070 people expected to die from this disease. That is nearly three times the 52,550 deaths due to colorectal cancer, which is the second most common cause of cancer death.
Stage IV. This stage means that the cancer has spread to other organs or parts of the body. It may be also called advanced or metastatic cancer.
Oncolytic viruses kill individual cancer cells, but studies also suggest that they can boost the immune system's ability to recognize and kill a tumor. The viruses enter tumor cells specifically and replicate, eventually breaking the cells apart.
Stage 4 is the most severe stage of cancer, with the highest risk of mortality. However, many factors affect a person's life expectancy, including the type of cancer.
"In general, cancers that have spread to the lymph nodes are typically stage 2 or 3," says Juan Santamaria, MD, Nebraska Medicine surgical oncologist. "Many of these cancers are still treatable and even curable at this stage.
There are effective treatments for many stage 3 cancers. Some stage 3 cancers can be successfully treated, but they are more likely to return after going away.
Research now suggests that chronic stress can actually make cancer spread faster. Stress can speed up the spread of cancer throughout the body, especially in ovarian, breast and colorectal cancer. When the body becomes stressed, neurotransmitters like norepinephrine are released, which stimulate cancer cells.
Glioblastoma, the most common type of brain cancer, has a near 100 percent recurrence rate, according to a study published in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology. Epithelial ovarian cancer has an 85 percent recurrence rate, according to a study published in Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy.
Second cancers are becoming more common since more people are living longer after their first cancer diagnosis than ever before. About 1 in every 6 people diagnosed with cancer has had a different type of cancer in the past.
Stage 3 cancer is more advanced than stage 2 because either the tumor is larger or the cancer has spread to lymph nodes or nearby tissue. Patients whose cancer has advanced to stage 3 may consider a second opinion to confirm their diagnosis and explore new treatment options.