This intermediatestage of cancer, in which themalignancyhas begun to extend from theprimary tumorto surrounding tissues, is still highly treatable. And just as there are factors that can negatively impact survival, there are others that can have a positive effect.
Knowing which risk factors are modifiable can help you make lifestyle changes to improve your chances ofremissionor disease-free survival.
Characteristics of Stage 2 Lung Cancers
The cancer stage helps directs the appropriatecourse of treatmentas well as predict the likely outcome (prognosis).
Stage 2 NSCLC is broken down into two substages:
NSCLC is staged differently thansmall cell lung cancer (SCLC), a less common form of the disease that is classified as either limited-stage orextensive-stage.
Survival Rates for Small Cell Lung Cancer
Stage 2 Survival Statistics
Cancer survival is typically described in terms of five-year survival rates. This is the percentage of people who live for at least five years following their diagnosis.
Epidemiologists and health authorities calculate survival in different ways. Some do so based on the TNM stage, while others calculate life expectancy based on how extensively cancer has spread. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages.
While survival rates are helpful in many ways, it is important to remember that they are only broad estimates of what to expect.
Estimating survival based on the TNM stage is an intuitive approach that “matches” stage to survival. Based on recent revisions to the TNM classification system, the five-year survival rate of stage 2 NSCLC breaks down as follows.
Survival rates like these are not carved in stone. Some people can live well in excess of the five-year estimates, while others may fall short of them.
The drawback of the TNM approach is that certain basic factors—such as the location of the tumor and the degree of airway obstruction—can impact survival times and are not reflected in these estimates.
The National Cancer Institute utilizes a different approach to survival estimates under its Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.
Rather than basing five-year estimates on the disease stage, the SEER program does so based on how extensively the cancer has spread. This is categorized in one of the following three ways.
One of the advantages of the SEER system is that it can be applied to both NSCLC and SCLC. On the downside, there is a significant overlap in definitions. For example, stage 1 and stage 2a NSCLC are considered localized, since there is no lymph node involvement. On the other hand, stage 2b NSCLC is considered regional, since lymph nodes are involved. As such, it falls into the same category asstage 3a NSCLC.
Under the SEER classification system, the five-year survival rate for stage 2a lung cancer is 59%, while the five-year survival rate for stage 2b lung cancer is 31.7%.
After the introduction ofimmunotherapy, five-year survival of lung cancer improved: for example, the survival of 5-year survival of patients with distant disease receiving immunotherapy exceeds now 10%. Also new approaches like neo-adjuvant immunotherapy plus or minus chemotherapy improved the overall survival of patients with stage 2 NSCLC.
Survival Rates of All Stages of Lung Cancer
Factors Influencing Survival Rates
The course of stage 2 lung cancer can vary from person to person; there is no one set path. Multiple variables can influence five-year survival rates, some of which are modifiable and others of which are not.
There are six distinct factors that are known to impact survival times in people with NSCLC in general and, in some cases, stage 2 NSCLC specifically.
Verywell / Emily Roberts
Age
Survival times in people with NSCLC in general tend to decrease in tandem with advancing age. This is in part because of diminishing overall health.
After the age of 60—the period in which most people with lung cancer are diagnosed—the five-year survival rate begins to drop precipitously.
Treating Lung Cancer in Older Adults
Sex
Sex also affects survival times in people with lung cancer in general, withwomenstatistically living longer thanmen. Even though lung cancer tends to occur at a younger age in women, men are far more likely to develop and die of the disease than women.
Over time, the disparity becomes even more apparent. With NSCLC in general, the five-year survival rate in women is 20% greater than that in men (19% vs. 13.8%, respectively), while the 10-year survival rate in women is nearly 40% greater than in men (16.2% vs. 19.5%, respectively).
With stage 2 NSCLC specifically, women have a five-year survival rate of 60% compared to 50% in men—a roughly 17% difference.
Differences in Lung Cancer in Women and Men
Performance Status
It is no surprise that your general health at the time of an NSCLC diagnosis impacts how well you respond to treatment and how long you are likely to survive. People who are fit and active in their 70s, for example, are almost invariably more likely to do better than those in their 60s who are disabled due to theirsymptoms.
The ability to function in daily life with cancer is referred to asperformance status (PS). It can be measured using one of two classification systems:
Smoking Status
Cigarette smokingnot only increases your risk of getting cancer, but decreases your survival time if you continue to smoke after being diagnosed or treated.
A 2010 review of studies in theBritish Medical Journalconcluded that smoking after the diagnosis ofearly-stage lung cancer(defined as stages 1 and 2a) reduces the five-year survival rate to 33%. This translates to a greater than 50% reduction in overall survival times for people with stage 2 NSCLC.
By contrast,quitting cigarettesincreases five-year survival rates to around 70% independent of all other risk factors.
Risk of Lung Cancer in Former Smokers
Type of Lung Cancer
Not all lung cancers are the same. With NSCLC in general, some types are more aggressive than others or may inhabit different, more vulnerable parts of the lungs. The following are the three most common types.
Each of these cancer types has different estimated survival rates, with lung adenocarcinoma generally being the most promising and large cell carcinoma being the least.
Type of Surgery
Lung cancer surgery is a mainstay of treatment for stage 2 NSCLC. There are four types of surgery commonly used based on the size, location, and extent of the malignancy.
As a general rule, survival rates tend to decrease in tandem with the amount of lung tissue removed. This is especially true when comparing lobectomy to pneumonectomy. According to a 2018 study published in theJournal of Thoracic Diseases,the five-year survival rate of people who undergo lobectomy is double that of those who undergo pneumonectomy (31.5% vs. 15.6%, respectively)
How a person is treated after surgery also influences survival times. With respect to stage 2 NSCLC specifically, the use ofadjuvant chemotherapy(used to clear any remaining cancer cells) results in a 53% lower risk of death over the ensuing five years compared to people who do not undergo chemotherapy following surgical resection.
A Word From Verywell
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Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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