Pancreatic Cancer survival statistics

This page contains information on survival rates for pancreatic cancer by sex, age, stage and comparisons with European survival rates.

Pancreatic cancer survival rates

 
 

Pancreatic cancer survival rates by sex

The proportion of people surviving pancreatic cancer is very low, and the length of time between diagnosis and death is typically short, at usually less than six months.

The most recent data for patients diagnosed in England and Wales show that around 13% of people with pancreatic cancer survive beyond 12 months after diagnosis and only 2-3% beyond five years ( Figure 3.11-,3).

Figure 3.1: One- and five-year relative survival by sex, adults diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, England and Wales, 1971-2001 and followed up to the end of 2003

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Improvements in palliative care have resulted in better short-term survival for both men and women; one-year relative survival rates have doubled since the early 1970s (see Figure 3.1 above).

Improvements include the use of endoscopic stent placement, effective pain relief and pancreatic enzyme supplementation. However, there is no evidence of an improvement in five-year relative survival rates for patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer over the last 30 years.

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Pancreatic cancer survival rates by age

As for many cancers, survival rates are higher in younger patients ( Figure 3.23). The one- and five-year survival rates for those aged under 50 are around 26% and 9% respectively, and 7% and 2% for those over 80.

Figure 3.2: One- and five-year relative survival by age and sex, patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, England, 1998-2001 and followed up to the end of 2003

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Pancreatic cancer survival rates by stage

Median survival following surgical resection for pancreatic cancer is of the order of 11-20 months. The five-year survival ranges from 7-25% 4,5. Patients with irresectable locally advanced disease (Stage III) have a median survival of 6-11 months 6. Patients who have metastatic disease have a median survival of only 2-6 months 7.

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European comparisons of pancreatic cancer survival rates

The EUROCARE-3 study 8 provides  age-standardised relative survival rates across many European countries for patients diagnosed during 1991-1994. One-year survival rates for pancreatic cancer in England, Scotland and Wales are lower than the European average and this is statistically significant in England for men and in all three countries for women. The five-year survival rates are lower than the European average but these differences are not significant.

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References for pancreatic cancer survival

  1.  Office for National Statistics Cancer survival: Cancer survival trends by period of diagnosis and sex age-standardised relative survival at one and five years, and average increase in relative survival between successive five-year periods of diagnosis, 1971 - 1990. 2005 Accessed
  2.  Office for National Statistics Cancer Survival: England and Wales, 1991-2001. 2005 Accessed
  3.  Office for National Statistics. Cancer Survival: England 1998-2003. 2005 Accessed
  4.  NYCRIS, Key Sites Study. Pancreas Report, in, Editor^Editors. 2000, Northern and Yorkshire Cancer Registry and Information Service: Leeds. p.
  5.  Richter, A., et al., Long-term results of partial pancreaticoduodenectomy for ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head: 25-year experience. World J Surg, 2003. 27(3): p. 324-9.
  6.  Amikura, K., M. Kobari, and S. Matsuno, The time of occurrence of liver metastasis in carcinoma of the pancreas. Int J Pancreatol, 1995. 17(2): p. 139-46.
  7.  Kayahara, M., et al., An evaluation of radical resection for pancreatic cancer based on the mode of recurrence as determined by autopsy and diagnostic imaging. Cancer, 1993. 72(7): p. 2118-23.
  8.  Sant, M., et al. EUROCARE-3: survival of cancer patients diagnosed 1990-94-results and commentary. 2003 Accessed 14 Suppl 5