Monday, June 7, 2010

Life Expectancy After Whipple Procedure | eHow.com

Life Expectancy After Whipple Procedure eHow.com

Life Expectancy and Survival Rate
Life expectancy can be difficult to determine, especially in the case of serious conditions including cancers. Life expectancy is not only affected by the illness, including the stage, grade and characteristics, but also by age and overall health. Therefore, life expectancy is usually discussed as survival rates, which is a percentage of the number of people that live for a specified period of time after diagnosis.
Survival Rate
Patients suffering from pancreatic cancer have a 5 percent survival rate at five years, meaning that only 5 percent of the patients will live five years after their diagnosis. Those patients that undergo the Whipple procedure, however, increase their survival rate to 20 percent at five years. For those patients whose cancer has not spread to lymph nodes, they have a 40 percent survival rate at five years. For patients with a benign (noncancerous) tumor or chronic pancreatitis, the procedure is curative, meaning they will enjoy a long natural life.

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