Survival rates are often used to describe a patient’s prognosis, and the 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who survive at least 5 years after a cancer diagnosis. Of course, many patients can survive longer than 5 years. Many patients would like to know the survival rates of patients with conditions similar to their own, but others do not find these data meaningful or even want to know them. If you are not interested in these data for bladder cancer, you can leave them out. The 5-year relative survival rate assumes that some patients may have died from other causes, and compares the observed survival rate with that of the cancer-free population. This method is more accurate for describing death from a particular type or stage of cancer. In order to obtain 5-year survival rates, physicians must return to patients who were treated 5 years ago. And advances in treatment may have led to just the right prognosis for patients recently diagnosed with bladder cancer. The following data is based on thousands of patients diagnosed with bladder cancer from 1988-2001. Survival rates are usually based on data from large numbers of people who have had bladder cancer in the past, but are not predictive of the future. Knowing the type and stage of cancer a patient has is important in determining prognosis. However, many other factors may also affect a patient’s prognosis, such as health status, cancer grade, and how well the cancer responds to treatment.