prognosis according to stage of disease

Last edited 12/2018 and last reviewed 03/2023

Survival for lung cancer is strongly related to the stage of the disease at diagnosis.

One-year net survival for lung cancer is highest for patients diagnosed at stage I, and lowest for those diagnosed at stage IV, 2014 data for England show.[1]

• 83% of patients diagnosed at stage I survived their disease for at least one year, versus 17% of patients diagnosed at stage IV.[1] One-year net survival for unknown stage lung cancer is 26%. Lack of staging information may in some cases reflect advanced stage at diagnosis: for example very unwell patients may not undergo staging tests if the invasiveness of the testing outweighs the potential benefit of obtaining stage information

Reference:

• CRUK. Lung Cancer Statistics (Accessed 27/12/18)