The most important question for lung cancer patients and their family members is “how long they can live with lung cancer”, in fact, this is not a generalization, the most important factor affecting the survival of patients is the pathological typing and staging of lung cancer. Lung squamous cell carcinoma is mostly of central type, which usually metastasizes locally through lymphatic first, and the 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, each type of lung cancer cell differentiation degree is different, for example, some tumor cells differentiate similarly to normal lung tissue structure, we call it highly differentiated tumor, on the contrary, if tumor cells differentiate disorderedly without the structure of normal lung tissue, it is called hypofractionated tumor. In contrast, if the tumor cells are disorganized and do not have the structure of normal lung tissue, they are called hypofractionated tumors. 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 I live if I 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. The prognosis of tumor is inseparable from the stage of the disease. 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 or 20 years or long-term survival. The five-year survival rate of stage III lung cancer can reach 50% after multiple 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 metastases has a cure rate of about 20%, but if distant metastases develop, the two-year survival rate after treatment is less than 5%, and the five-year survival rate is almost zero.