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What is a cancer prognosis?

A prognosis gives an idea about whether the cancer can be cured and what may happen in the future. When first diagnosed with cancer, many people ask about their prognosis. You might want to know whether your cancer is relatively easy or more difficult to cure and what is likely to happen in the future. This is called a prognosis. Prognosis refers to determining the predicted or probable level of improvement in function, and the amount of time needed to reach that level of improvement in a health condition. It may also include a prediction of levels of improvement reached at several intervals during a course of therapy. Prognosis is a scientific prediction of the likely development of a disease and its outcome

A prognosis can tell you that how likely the cancer is to be cured, what the chances are of a full recovery, or how long you are likely to live if the cancer cannot be cured. The answers are based on some different factors such as the type of cancer you have and where it is in the body, the grade of the cancer it is, how quickly the cancer may grow, the stage of cancer it is, the size of the cancer and whether it has spread and how the treatment might affect you physically, final your age and general health.

Prognostic and Predictive factors

A prognosis is your doctor’s best estimate of how cancer will affect you and how it will respond to treatment. Prognostic and predictive factors are used to help develop a treatment plan and predict the outcome from your doctor. Generally, the earlier cancer is found and treated, the better the outcome.

1) A prognostic factor is a feature of the cancer (like the size of the tumour) or a characteristic of the person (like their age) that may affect the outcome.
2) A predictive factor can help predict if a cancer will respond to a certain treatment. Some drugs only work if molecules (such as proteins) are on cancer cells or inside them.

Prognostic factors

These are some important prognostic factors related to the cancer:
• the type of cancer
• the subtype of cancer based on the type of cells or tissue (histology)
• the size of the tumour
• how far and where the cancer has spread (stage)
• how fast the cancer cells are growing (grade)
These are important prognostic factors related to the person diagnosed with cancer:
• the age and sex
• any health problems and their overall health
• the ability to do everyday tasks like taking care of physical needs (performance status)
• any weight loss, and how weight has been lost
• how well they can cope with treatment side effects
• response to treatment

Predictive factors

Important predictive factors include some types of tumour markers (a substance in the body that may indicate the presence of a certain type of cancer), biomarkers(any cellular, molecular, chemical or physical change that can be measured and used to study a normal or abnormal process in the body. Biomarkers are used to check the risk for, presence of or progress of a disease or the effects of treatment) and changes to chromosomes (genetic mutations). Some treatments are only effective if you have a specific marker or genetic mutation. This can help your doctor plan which treatment is best for you.

Cancer prognosis statistics

In estimating a cancer patient’s prognosis, doctors consider the characteristics of the patient’s disease, the available treatment options, and any health problems the patient may have that could affect the course of the disease or its ability to be treated successfully. The doctor bases the prognosis, in large part, on information collected over many years about hundreds or even thousands of people with the same type of cancer. When possible, doctors use statistics based on groups of people whose situations are most similar to that of the patient. The most commonly used types of statistics are:

1) Cancer-specific survival
This is the percentage of people with a certain type and stage of cancer who have not died from their cancer during a period of time after diagnosis. 5 years is the time period most often used.

2) Disease-free survival
This is the percentage of people who have no signs of their cancer during a period of time after treatment.
3) Progression-free survival
This is the percentage of people with cancer that is stable and has not got worse over a period of time.
4) Overall survival
This is the percentage of people with a certain type and stage of cancer who have not died from any cause during a period of time after diagnosis.

The 5-Year-Survival Rate

Cancer survival rate, the percentage of people who will be alive at a certain time after diagnosis. Survival rates can describe any given length of time. However, researchers usually give cancer statistics as a 5-year relative survival rate. The percentage of people who will be alive 5 years after diagnosis. It does not include those who die from other diseases. Example: The 5-year relative survival rate for early-stage cervical cancer is 92%. This means that 92 out of every 100 women with early-stage cervical cancer will be alive over 5 years after diagnosis.

Conquering the Fear of Cancer Recurrence

Many people with cancer count down the days until their treatment is ended, looking forward to finally putting the disease behind them. However, after their primary treatment has been completed, cancer survivors commonly face uncertainty and fear. A variety of evidence-based strategies are available to help cancer survivors regain control over their fears:

1) Remember that fear of cancer recurrence is common for cancer survivors
These worries about disease recurrence can last for years after treatment ends. In fact, 30 to 70 percent of cancer survivors report moderate to high levels of fear of cancer recurrence.

2) Identify your triggers and come up with a plan to address them
For most survivors who are experiencing fear of cancer recurrence, various sensations or experiences in their day-to-day lives can be triggering. By naming your triggers ahead of time and thinking about how particular situations might make you feel, you can make a plan for addressing these emotions before they arise.

3) Focus on what you can control
A cancer diagnosis can make you feel like you’ve lost control over your health. However, there are many aspects of your health that you can control. Things like how often you exercise, your diet, sleep habits, and other healthy lifestyle choices are all within your control.

4) Stick to your follow-up care plan
A main goal of follow-up care is to check for a recurrence of cancer. Your follow-up care plan may include regular physical examinations and or tests to keep track of your recovery. Having a regular schedule of follow-up visits can provide survivors with a sense of control.

5) Join a support group
Many cancer survivors find joining a support group to be helpful. Support groups offer the chance to share feelings and fears with others who understand. They also allow you to exchange practical information and helpful suggestions

6) Make healthy choices
Healthy habits like eating nutritious meals, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep help people feel better both physically and emotionally. Avoiding unhealthy habits, like smoking and excessive drinking, helps people feel like they have more control over their health.

7) Try mind-body techniques
Mind-body techniques, such as cognitive-behavioral skills, mindfulness meditation, and yoga, can help cancer survivors tame their fears of cancer recurrence

AI in Cancer Prognosis

Cancer is an aggressive disease with a low median survival rate. The treatment process is long and very costly due to its high recurrence and mortality rates. Accurate early diagnosis and prognosis prediction of cancer are essential to enhance the patient's survival rate.
Developments in statistics and computer engineering over the years have encouraged many scientists to apply computational methods such as multivariate statistical analysis to analyze the prognosis of the disease, and the accuracy of such analyses is significantly higher than that of empirical predictions.
As artificial intelligence (AI), especially machine learning and deep learning, has found popular applications in clinical cancer research in recent years, cancer prediction performance has reached new heights.
AI assists cancer diagnosis and prognosis, specifically with regard to its unprecedented accuracy, which is even higher than that of general statistical applications in oncology. The opportunities and challenges in the clinical implementation of AI are a new perspective on how AI technology can help improve cancer diagnosis and prognosis, and continue improving human health in the future