Here are some interesting facts worth noting.
Did you know that the cancer of prostate is very often is not lethal? Did you know that some men never suffer the symptoms and actually have the disease? About 1 out of 6 American men will at some point be diagnosed with prostate cancer, yet only about 1 in every 35 will actually die of it.
Many prostate tumors are slow growing and low-grade, and if detected in its very early stages cure rates can be as high as 98% in some cases. Where the cancer has advanced beyond the prostate to nearby regions it is more difficult to cure but survival rates for many men can still be prolonged for years. Where the disease has metastasized that is spread to other organs like the liver, lungs and bones average survival time is 1- 3 years but many patients live longer some often dying of other causes.
If the cancer recurs after initial treatment and is still contained within the prostate, it can be cured. And even if it has spread beyond, hormone treatments for such recurrences will prolong life for many years.
Amazingly survival rates tend to get higher the longer a patient with advanced cancer lives. 2 years is the average survival rate for patients after diagnosis of prostate cancer advanced. 26 months is the average survival rate for patients with advanced prostate cancer who are still alive 2 years after diagnosis. 34 months is the average survival for patients in advanced prostate cancer stage who are still alive 5 years after diagnosis.
As far as death rates are concerned, only about 17% of men who have prostate cancer will die of it. In America each year approximately 234,460 men will be diagnosed with cancer of prostate and about 27,350 will die from it. The average life years lost form prostate cancer is 8.9 years.
And now finally the good news. Today, at all the stages of the disease, prostate cancer prognosis as concerns cure, survival and life expectancy has increased in the past 20 years from 67% to almost 100%.
