“More than 600,000 people in the U.S. die of cancer each year. Cancers that reach stage four and metastasize to the brain, liver or other body parts carry the worst odds. Many patients die within weeks. But a greater portion of patients across many cancers are now still alive five years after a late-stage diagnosis compared with two decades ago, federal data show.

‘I can legitimately tell most of the people I meet that I think their survival is measured in years’  said Dr. Mark Lewis, director of gastrointestinal oncology at Intermountain Health in Utah. ‘More and more people are experiencing cancer as a chronic illness.’

Even for lung cancer, the biggest U.S. cancer killer, the five-year relative survival rate for advanced disease has inched up, from 3.7% for patients diagnosed in 2004 to 9.2% for patients diagnosed in 2017, federal data show. The overall lung cancer survival rate has risen by 26% in the past five years, according to the American Lung Association, as declining cigarette use, screening and new drugs have driven down deaths.”

From Wall Street Journal.