A prognosis is a prediction of the outcome of one’s disease. How likely is survival? Will the cancer come back? These are the big questions on most people’s minds after receiving a diagnosis of hypopharyngeal cancer. In general, several characteristics of the tumor can inform a patient about their chances of being cured.
Factors That Affect Prognosis
Stage
This is the most important factor that affects a patient’s chance of being cured.
Site
The location and size of the tumor can affect the surgeon’s ability to resect the tumor with adequate margins of healthy tissue around it.
Type & Grade
Both the type and grade of the tumor determine the amount of treatment necessary and the ultimate prognosis.
Spread into Local Structures
Spread into large nerves, blood vessels, bones, or other structures can worsen prognosis.
Spread to Lymph Nodes
This helps determine stage, but even without other factors, spread to lymph nodes in the neck decreases the chance of cure, especially if there is evidence of cancer growth outside of the lymph node. The number, location, and size of lymph nodes are also important.
Tumor Margins
The ability to completely remove the tumor with a margin of normal tissue around it is a very important factor in a patient’s prognosis.
While each of these factors contributes to one’s outcome, patients should have a discussion with their doctor to determine their overall prognosis. Giving a percentage of survival is extremely challenging because cancer research often looks at multiple types of cancer and may include a large range of patients who underwent a variety of treatments.
Survival Rates for Patients with Hypopharyngeal Cancer
Stage I
Estimated Disease-Specific Survival at Ten Years
27%
Stage II
Estimated Disease-Specific Survival at Ten Years
25%
Stage III
Estimated Disease-Specific Survival at Ten Years
19%
Stage IV
Estimated Disease-Specific Survival at Ten Years
15%
Disclaimer: Estimated Disease-Specific Survival is the percentage of people with a specific cancer who are alive at a given time point, such as five years after diagnosis. It excludes people who may have died from a disease other than their cancer. While these estimates from large national databases are helpful, it is important to remember that these broad statistics may not apply to one’s individual situation.
