Until recently, long-term survivors of advanced or metastatic cancer have primarily been women with metastatic breast cancer. But doctors are now seeing survivors with other types of cancer, including lung, gastrointestinal, kidney cancer, and melanoma.
In the past, many people did not live long with metastatic cancer. Even with today's better treatments, recovery is not always possible. But doctors can often treat cancer even if they cannot cure it. A good quality of life is possible for months or even years.
For example, the five-year survival rate for metastatic lung cancer is 7%. This means that 7% of people diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer are still alive five years later. Meanwhile, the five-year survival rate of metastatic breast cancer is 28% for women and 22% for men.
The 5-year relative survival rate for women with metastatic breast cancer in the U.S. is 30%. The 5-year survival rate for men with metastatic breast cancer is 19%.
Life expectancy for people with metastatic or metastasized lung cancer is low. The 5-year survival rate for small cell lung cancer is 3%, and 8% for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 25-30% of people with metastatic NSCLC have a life expectancy of under 3 months.
Rarely are the terms “cure” and “metastatic cancer” used together. That's because cancer that has spread from where it originated in the body to other organs is responsible for most deaths from the disease.
Although the overall prognosis may be poor based on cases with previous patients and older treatments, many patients with stage 4 cancer can live for years. A few factors to keep in mind: Many treatments are available to help fight cancer. The body's response to treatment may differ from that of others.
The lungs are the most common organ for cancers to spread to. This is because the blood from most parts of the body flows back to the heart and then to the lungs. Cancer cells that have entered the bloodstream can get stuck in the small blood vessels (capillaries) of the lungs.
Metastatic cancer is fatal because it has the ability to spread inside the body. The cancer could infect the nearby tissues by spreading. The cells could spread regionally also, such as, organs, tissues, and lymph nodes. When this type of spread happens, it is also termed as stage four cancer, done by metastasis.
Metastasis involves the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumor to surrounding tissues and to distant organs and is the primary cause of cancer morbidity and mortality.
Metastatic breast cancer may never go away completely. But treatment can control its spread. Cancer may even go into remission at some points. This means you have fewer signs and symptoms of cancer.
The length of time from the start of treatment for cancer that a patient is still alive and the cancer has not spread to other parts of the body. In a clinical trial, measuring the metastasis-free survival is one way to see how well a new treatment works.
Although some drugs may shrink metastases along with primary tumors, no existing drugs treat or prevent metastasis directly. Without a targeted approach, metastatic tumors often reemerge.
About one-third of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in the U.S. live at least 5 years after diagnosis [7]. Some women may live 10 or more years beyond diagnosis [9].
Lung and bronchial cancer causes more deaths in the U.S. than any other type of cancer in both men and women.
Chemotherapy has been the standard treatment for many cancer metastases, while immunotherapy and targeted therapy have become relatively new options.
In some situations, metastatic cancer can be cured. But for most metastatic cancers, treatment does not cure the cancer but it can slow its growth and reduce symptoms. It is possible to live for many months or years with certain types of cancer, even after the development of metastatic disease.
Although it may seem obvious that a disease that spreads throughout the body should be fatal, the reality is that many illnesses affecting multiple organs do not usually lead to an early death.
This is also called end-stage cancer or terminal cancer. (Sometimes terminal cancer is called metastatic cancer, but they aren't always the same thing. To learn more, see Metastatic Cancer: When Cancer Spreads.)
The liver is the most common site of distant metastasis in solid tumors. Gastrointestinal cancers such as CRC, pancreatic cancer and tumors of the gallbladder, which are drained by the enterohepatic circulation, reach the liver first.
Metastatic brain tumors can grow rapidly, crowding or destroying nearby brain tissue. Sometimes a patient may have multiple metastatic tumors in different areas of the brain.
Cancer that spreads from where it started to a distant part of the body is called metastatic cancer. For many types of cancer, it is also called stage IV (4) cancer. The process by which cancer cells spread to other parts of the body is called metastasis.
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.