If you haven't known yet, the throat cancer survival rate is usually based on each stage of the cancer. This really isn't surprising knowing that most cancer survival percentages are estimated by their stages. A throat cancer survival rate may be measured by 5 years or 10 years period. But recently, most researchers are now using the 5 years time period when conducting survival rate studies of most cancers.
Cancer of the throat is the cancer of our voice box (larynx) and its surrounding tissues. The most prominent parts of our throat are the larynx and the pharynx but most cancers arise from the former, accounting to nearly half of all throat cancer cases in America.
Statistical studies will tell you that in the us alone, more than 25,000 people are being diagnosed of this type of cancer per year. Smoking is one of the major predisposing factors of this cancer, therefore, the prevalence rate of acquiring this disease is higher in male than in female. As the person ages, the chances of having this cancer is pretty high as well, especially if his/her history comprises of long years of smoking.
Throat cancer survival rate for most patients is quite high because of the advancement in medical technology, detecting the cancer as early as stage 1. However, this isn't always the case of most patients because there are those whose over-all health status isn't exactly healthy enough to fight off the cancer as it ensues.
At stages 0 and 1, the throat cancer survival rate is pretty high at 90 to 99 percent in a 5-year time period. The tumor at these stages isn't exactly that big and it may be easily removed through surgery and some adjuvant chemotherapy if needed.
The rate of survival will then decrease at the next stages (2 and 3) with the highest rate at 75% and the lowest at 60% for the same time period. At the later phase of stage 3, the throat cancer survival rate will drastically decrease at 50%.
Once the patient reaches the 4th stage of cancer, expect a much more decreased survival percentage. During this stage, the cancer has already metastasized towards the nearest vital organs (brain, heart, lungs, etc). In some cases, the cause of death may not be the cancer of the throat but instead the cancer that has spread to the other body parts, especially if it has reached the spinal cord and the brain. The survival percentage of stage 4 is substantially lower at 20-30%.
If you want to learn more about your throat cancer survival rate, please check out Cancer Survival Rates for more information.