Cancer is one of the worst diseases in the modern world. Many patients, having heard such a diagnosis, immediately begin to panic. However, sooner or later, patients are interested in how much they can survive with fourth-degree cancer with metastases. There are more and more cancer deaths now. However, it is difficult to give a correct answer, since there is only dry data from medical statistics. A large number of factors influence the life expectancy of a patient with a diagnosis of cancer at various stages, both with and without metastases. Sometimes it happens that the patient does not die of cancer at all.
Statistics
Now you can give only approximate information about the cancer of certain species. A tumor of a malignant nature, which is localized in the prostate gland, has the highest survival rate of 30%. Malignant formations in the chest do not end in death in only 15% of cases. With stomach cancer, one in five can survive. The most dangerous are inoperable liver and lung cancer - 6 and 10%, respectively.
General information about the disease
In order to well understand the factors that affect the patient's life expectancy, you need to find out as much information as possible about the disease itself.
Unfortunately, in spite of all the achievements in the field of cancer therapy in modern medicine, experts still have not established the reasons for the appearance of such an ailment and cannot explain why atypical cells affect metastases even the most distant organs. The most common and probable causes are listed below:
- genetic predisposition;
- bad habits;
- the impact of external factors (activities in the chemical industry, radiation).
The course of various oncological diseases has serious differences depending on where the tumor is located. However, the patient often does not feel or simply ignores the symptoms, and therefore comes to a medical institution only in cases where it is too late to do something, and cancer can develop in an accelerated time. That is why the disease is most often diagnosed already in the fourth stage with the appearance of metastases. You need to know that pathology develops especially rapidly in young people, since metabolic processes work quite well, and their metabolism is high. It is not necessary to talk about the fact that you can completely recover from stage four cancer, but you should not put an end to your life. No specialist will reach a verdict indicating life expectancy for inoperable cancer, as he simply does not have such information.
Cancer of the fourth degree: how many patients with lung damage live?
In lung cancer, the prognosis has significant differences, which is determined by the histological type of tumor. Judging by the statistics of survival of patients with small cell carcinoma, over a five-year period this indicator is not higher than 1%, and this is due to the extremely aggressive growth of this neoplasm. Large cell lung cancer has higher numbers - 12%.
The life expectancy of such patients with an inoperable stage of cancer is reduced due to the spread of this disease to neighboring systems and organs, metastases are formed. The course of the pathology is positively affected by resection of the whole lung or its part. In the fourth degree of lung disease, the use of chemo- and radiation therapy can to some extent alleviate the suffering of the patient. In 70% of patients, the appearance of pathological fluid caused by a metastatic pleural defect is observed. To pump liquid masses from the pleural cavity, specialists perform thoracocentesis.
Fourth degree liver oncology with metastases
Malignant neoplasms in the liver progress especially rapidly and move from the first stage to the late in literally 3-4 months. It is because of this aggressive growth that liver cancer has a very poor prognosis, and this is reflected in a five-year survival statistic. Its percentage is 6.
With oncological damage to the liver of the fourth degree, all lobes and the portal vein are affected by a malignant process. The traditional help to such patients is that painkillers of narcotic origin are prescribed, as well as laparocentesis, that is, the elimination of fluid accumulated in the abdominal cavity. All the same, there are a lot of deaths from cancer of this species.
In the later stages, patients with malignant liver damage can prolong their lives with the help of innovative cancer elimination technologies: radio frequency treatment and chemoembolization.
Malignant lesion of the stomach of the fourth degree
Compared with other oncological types, cancer of the stomach with the formation of metastases has the highest survival rate, ranging from 15 to 20%. Specialists diagnose the last stage if the stomach is affected, an organ located nearby, as well as at least one regional lymph node.
The most effective way to stabilize the oncological process in the stomach is chemotherapy, which is introduced into the artery. At the advanced stage, surgery can be performed if there is bleeding or bowel obstruction.
With exophytic growth of the neoplasm (when the lumen of the digestive canal is blocked), experts suggest palliative surgery. A similar tumor elimination operation restores food patency. 10-15% of patients undergo a surgical operation, during which a special probe for parenteral food ingestion is implanted.
Inoperable Pancreatic Cancer
Since there is no surgical treatment for patients with this diagnosis, survival in this case is two percent. And vice versa - patients who underwent a radical operation have the opportunity to live up to five years in 15-20%.
With pancreatic cancer, the most common form of surgery is essentially Whipple's surgery. Her methodology is based on the fact that the head of a cancerous tumor is removed simultaneously with part of the stomach, gall bladder and duodenum.
Radical surgery cannot be performed in patients with malignant defects of adjacent vessels and multiple metastases. To improve the quality of life of patients with an inoperable pancreatic cancer, specialists can do drainage of the excretory ducts of the gallbladder. In addition, complex palliative therapy includes narcotic painkillers.
The prognosis for inoperable cancer is disappointing.
Breast cancer of the fourth degree
Survival of patients with cancer of the fourth degree breast cancer ranges from 10 to 15% if mastectomy is performed. To determine the size of the surgical intervention, the specialist needs a detailed tomographic examination of the affected area. When a radical intervention is performed, which especially applies to women with lesions of the fascia of the breast and metastases in several clusters of lymph nodes, the doctor prescribes cytotoxic drugs in the maximum dosage. Life extension in inoperable cancer is affected by the general condition of the patient. In particular, she has secondary foci of tumor development in the liver, lungs and kidneys. What to do with inoperable uterine cancer?
Fourth Grade Uterine Cancer: Life Span
Malignant neoplasms in the uterus at the last stage of oncogenesis spread outside and affect organs located in the pelvis, and in some cases metastatic foci can be detected in distant tissues. In cancer of the uterus with metastases, the life expectancy of patients is largely due to the literacy of the prescribed therapeutic course. Most often, treatment is based on remote irradiation with further radiation intracavitary therapy. Unfortunately, cancer care, even on a large scale, contributes to five-year survival in 3–9% of cases.
Here's how dangerous inoperable cancer with metastases.
Life expectancy in stage four prostate cancer
Symptoms may include the appearance of bloody impurities in the urine. The fourth stage of prostate cancer in any case involves the metastasis of tumor cells to other systems and organs, which significantly affects the quality, life expectancy and prognosis, and also causes the death of patients not from the disease itself, but from the complications that accompany it.
How many live with inoperable prostate cancer?
The bones and liver become a particularly frequent location of metastases, which shortens the life expectancy of people with the last degree of oncological pathology of the prostate. If metastases affect the bones of the spine, then compression of the back is formed. In patients with a fourth degree. This can cause the formation of paraplegia, that is, paralysis of the limbs, immobility and severe pain.
When diagnosing metastases, the prognosis is much worse, even if surgery and chemotherapy are prescribed in a timely manner, and the patients are relatively young (after forty years). It is difficult to say how long a person will live in this case. It depends on the condition of its internal organs, the quality of treatment, the presence of metastases, including also their presence in the bone. On average, this indicator is from a year to three.
So, we examined inoperable cancer of the 4th degree.