The most important question for lung cancer patients and their family members is “how long they can live with lung cancer”. In terms of pathological staging, squamous cell carcinoma of lung is mostly of central type and usually metastasizes locally through lymphatic first, while distant metastasis of the whole body is later. Lung adenocarcinoma is mostly peripheral type, even if the tumor in the lung is small, it can easily metastasize to other organs throughout the body and become advanced lung cancer. Small cell lung cancer is a special type of lung cancer, which is separately classified in the histology of pathology. It has high malignancy, fast growth, and early lymphatic and systemic extensive metastasis, that is, advanced stage. Small cell lung cancer is sensitive to radiotherapy, and some patients will even have their tumors disappear after first-line treatment, but about 70% of patients will have recurrence or metastasis within the following two years. In addition, the degree of differentiation of each type of lung cancer cells is different. For example, if some tumor cells differentiate similarly to the structure of normal lung tissue, we call them highly differentiated tumors; on the contrary, if tumor cells differentiate haphazardly without the structure of normal lung tissue, they are called hypofractionated tumors. In contrast, if the tumor cells are disorganized and do not have the structure of normal lung tissue, they are called hypofractionated tumors. In terms of pathological staging, the staging of malignant tumors is based on a comprehensive assessment of tumor size, the presence of lymph node metastasis and metastasis to other parts of the body. Lung cancer is divided into stage I, II, III and IV. Stage I lung cancer has the best prognosis and the longest survival period, while stage IV lung cancer has the worst prognosis and the shortest survival period. How long can you live if you have lung cancer? There are many factors affecting survival, such as mentality. Although the relationship between mentality and survival is not written in any formal textbook, we do see cases of rapid progression due to fear of tumor in clinical practice, and similarly there are patients who survive with tumor for a long time. Generally speaking, many patients with stage I and II non-small cell lung cancer can be cured after surgical treatment, and the five-year survival rate can reach 45%-65%, and some early stage lung cancer patients have a survival period of even more than 10 years, 20 years or long-term survival. The five-year survival rate of stage III lung cancer can reach 50% after various treatments. Stage IV lung cancer has the worst prognosis, with a one-year survival rate of 30-40% and a two-year survival rate of 10-15%. Small cell lung cancer without distant metastasis has a cure rate of about 20%, but if distant metastasis occurs, the two-year survival rate is less than 5% after treatment, and the five-year survival rate is almost zero.