Stage 4 lung cancer refers to lung cancer that has spread to organs other than the affected lung, such as the bone, pleura, and contralateral lung. It is the most advanced stage of lung cancer and has the worst prognosis, with 1-year survival rates of 30%-40% for non-small cell lung cancer, 10%-15% for 2 years, and about 1 year for small cell lung cancer. However, with the current advances in lung cancer treatment, patients with lung cancer are surviving longer and longer in clinical practice.
First, let’s talk about the factors related to how long you can live, such as the type: small cell lung cancer, which is highly malignant and prone to distant metastases, but sensitive to radiotherapy, if the patient can relapse after chemotherapy for more than six months, it means that chemotherapy is more effective, and such patients have a longer survival time compared to those who relapse within six months. Non-small cell lung cancer, commonly divided into squamous carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, stage 4 are inoperable, but if it is adenocarcinoma and has genetic mutation, targeted drug therapy can be applied and survival time will be longer.
Metastatic sites: for example, brain metastasis is the worst prognosis among them, while those with single contralateral lung metastasis, liver metastasis or bone metastasis that do not cause complications such as fractures may have a longer survival time than brain metastasis. The response after treatment, some patients, who have good chemotherapy effect, but also have great side effects, or even severe white blood cell and platelet drop, and cannot adhere to the treatment, their survival time will be relatively affected; some patients simply cannot control the progression of lung cancer with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and their survival time will be shorter. Lastly, the economic factor, although money is not everything, in lung cancer treatment, having no money and having money are really different, targeted drugs can cost tens of thousands of dollars per month, sometimes, it is really possible to control with money, but there is really no way without money. In short, how long you can live is completely different from person to person.