Prognosis and life expectancy of squamous cell carcinoma | Squamous cell carcinoma – How dangerous is it?

Prognosis and life expectancy of squamous cell carcinoma

In general, no statement can be made about individual prognosis or life expectancy. Primarily, the prognosis of squamous cell carcinoma depends on how far advanced it is and where it is located. Lung carcinomas usually have a relatively poor prognosis.

The situation is similar for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, as here too the tumor is detected at a late stage. In contrast, the life expectancy of spinaliomas is very good, as they can be easily removed in most cases. The individual localizations and stages of squamous cell carcinoma must again be considered in terms of survival rates.

In the case of lung cancer, after 5 years, 15% of the persons who have been newly diagnosed with lung cancer are still alive. The survival rate, however, is strongly dependent on how early the cancer was diagnosed. In early stages, 5-year survival rates are between 25 and 50%.

Often, however, lung cancer is not diagnosed until it cannot be operated on. In the case of esophageal cancer, less than 10% of patients live after 5 years, as most patients already have advanced stage carcinoma at the time of diagnosis. However, when successful surgery with complete removal of the tumor has been performed, about 35% are still alive. Spinaliomas that are less than one centimeter in size, on the other hand, have very good chances of healing and can usually be easily removed.

Course of disease

The course of the disease varies greatly from one individual to another. Since it depends on many other factors in addition to the actual type of cancer, cancer stage and localization.This includes, for example, as an important criterion the response to the therapy. It is also very important whether the planned therapy is well tolerated.

In some cases, for example, chemotherapy is so poorly tolerated that it must be discontinued. Age and physical condition also play a role. The probability of metastases depends on the location of the squamous cell carcinoma.

Lung carcinomas often metastasize, which is why therapy is usually difficult here. Typical organs into which lung cancer metastasizes are the liver, brain, adrenal glands and skeleton. Oesophageal cancer also frequently metastasizes. Furthermore, tongue carcinomas also metastasize early via the lymph to the lymph nodes of the neck and lower jaw and from there to other organs. In contrast, squamous cell carcinomas of the skin metastasize rather rarely and late.