The survival time of lung cancer depends on the pathological type of lung cancer and the stage of lung cancer at the time of diagnosis. Generally, the survival period of adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma among non-small cell lung cancer is longer than that of small cell lung cancer. If adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma are detected early and treated timely, the survival period can be more than 5 years. If the disease is detected with distant metastases, the survival can be extended to about 3-5 years with aggressive radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy, and the disease is sensitive to treatment. If the disease is poorly treated and insensitive to treatment such as drugs and radiotherapy, the survival period is relatively shortened. If distant metastasis is found at the early stage of the disease, the survival period can only be controlled to about 6 months to 1 year. Small cell lung cancer is highly malignant and prone to distant metastasis within a short period of time. If small cell cancer is not treated aggressively, the survival period is about 3-6 months. If treated aggressively and is more sensitive to chemotherapy, the survival period can be extended accordingly. However, compared with squamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, the survival period of small cell carcinoma is shorter, and if the treatment is effective, the survival period of small cell carcinoma can be about 3 years. In conclusion, no matter which pathological type of lung cancer is involved, as long as early diagnosis and early treatment are achieved, the survival period can be extended accordingly.