© 2005-2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). All
rights reserved worldwide. One of the first questions a person
may ask after receiving a cancer diagnosis is whether the
disease can be treated successfully. Cancer.Net spoke with Ira
R. Byock, MD, to find out what patients need to know about
prognosis. Q: What does “prognosis” mean? A: Prognosis is a term
for the predicted course of a disease. People commonly use the
word to refer to an individual’s life expectancy—how long the
person is likely to live—however, prognosis can also refer to
the chances that a disease can be cured, the outlook for
recovery, and prospects for future function. Q: How does a
doctor estimate a patient’s prognosis, and what are some
concerns in making these estimates? A: Doctors typically
estimate a patient’s likelihood of being cured, their extent of
functional recovery, and their life expectancy by looking at
studies of groups of people with the same or similar diagnosis.
A person’s prognosis is always an estimate, and