When one is diagnosed with a serious illness like brain cancer, one normally got panic learning about survival rates and prognosis on the condition. But, it’s important to keep in mind that survival rates are simply statistics; they do not apply to one specific person.
Technically speaking, statistics are gathered about a group of patients with a certain disorder within a certain time frame. In general, to get an accurate statistic it’s necessary to have a relatively large group of people. However, in a very rare form of cancer like brain cancer, this only accounts to less than 2 percent of all cancers. Hence, this small number of patients makes it difficult for statisticians to gather and analyze information.
As Cancer Survival Rates reports, brain cancer has always been the most terrifying of malignancies because of the lethality of the position of these tumors and their effects on thought and emotion. Statistically, the overall incidence of Brain Cancer is relatively low, accounting for 2% of all cancers in the US, causing 13000 deaths annually. Brain Cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death in the US in patients under 35.
Not only that, brain cancer survival rates vary with age. The overall survival rate for 5 years is 33%, but in children, the survival rate is better. The 5 year survival rate is 70-85% for children if the tumor has not spread and a complete surgical resection is possible. Whilst 30-40% 5 year survival rate in cases where the tumor has already spread.
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