Survival for anal cancer
Survival depends on different factors. So no one can tell you exactly how long you will live.
Doctors usually work out the outlook for a certain disease by looking at large groups of people. Because this cancer is less common, survival is harder to estimate than for other, more common cancers.
Some of the statistics have to be based on a small number of people. Remember, they can't tell you what will happen in your individual case.
Your doctor can give you more information about your own outlook (
).
You can also talk about this to the Cancer Research UK nurses on freephone 0808 800 4040, from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
About these statistics
The terms 1 year survival and 5 year survival don't mean that you will only live for 1 or 5 years.
The NHS, other health organisations, and researchers collect information. They record what happens to people with cancer in the years after their diagnosis. 5 years is a common time point to measure survival. But some people live much longer than this.
5 year survival is the number of people who have not died from their cancer within 5 years after diagnosis.
Doctors use codes to say where a cancer is in the body. They use these codes when looking at statistics for cancer. Anal cancer has a different code to cancers in the anal margin. The anal margin is also called the perianal skin. These survival statistics do not include people with anal margin cancer
Survival by stage
The stage of a cancer tells you about its size and whether it has spread. Your outlook (prognosis) depends on the stage of your cancer at diagnosis.
There are no UK-wide statistics available for anal cancer survival by stage.
Survival statistics are available for anal cancer in England. These figures are for people diagnosed between 2015 and 2019.
Stage 1
The statistics for stage 1 anal cancer survival don’t take into account the age of the people with anal cancer. Statistics that do take into account the age (age-standardised statistics) are not available.
Almost 90 out of 100 people (almost 90%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
Stage 2
More than 75 out of 100 people (more than 75%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
Stage 3
Around 60 out of 100 people (around 60%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
Stage 4
The statistics for stage 4 anal cancer survival don’t take into account the age of the people with anal cancer. Statistics that do take into account the age (age-standardised statistics) are not available.
Around 20 out of 100 people (around 20%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after they are diagnosed.
Cancer Survival in England, cancers diagnosed 2015 to 2019, followed up to 2020
NHS England
These statistics are for net survival. Net survival estimates the number of people who survive their cancer rather than calculating the number of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive. In other words, it is the survival of cancer patients after taking into account that some people would have died from other causes if they had not had cancer.
These statistics contain a mix of statistics that do take into account the age of people with anal cancer (age-standardised) and those that don't (non-standardised). Where available, age-standardised net survival is shown.
Without age standardisation, the survival differences between the 4 stage groups can be influenced by the age of the people in each stage group, in addition to their disease progression or treatment.
We should not use these non age-standardised figures to compare survival with other groups, such as different cancer types, stages, or populations from other countries.
Doctors use the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) to categorise cancers. These survival statistics are for anal cancers with the ICD-10 code C21.
Survival for all stages of anal cancer
Generally, for people with anal cancer in England:
- 85 out of 100 people (85%) survive their cancer for 1 year or more
- more than 60 out of 100 people (more than 60%) survive their cancer for 5 years or more
- more than 50 out of 100 people (more than 50%) survive their cancer for 10 years or more
1 and 5 year survival statistics
Cancer Survival in England, cancers diagnosed 2015 to 2019, followed up to 2020
NHS England Digital
These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2015 and 2019.
10 year survival statistics
Cancer survival in England: adult, stage at diagnosis and childhood - patients followed up to 2018
Office for National Statistics
These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2013 and 2017
1, 5 and 10 year statistics are for net survival. Net survival estimates the number of people who survive their cancer rather than calculating the number of people diagnosed with cancer who are still alive. In other words, it is the survival of cancer patients after taking into account that some people would have died from other causes if they had not had cancer.
Doctors use the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) to categorise cancers. These survival statistics are for anal cancers with the ICD-10 code C21.
What affects survival
Your outcome depends on the stage of the cancer when it was diagnosed. This means how big it is and whether it has spread. It also depends on:
- the type of anal cancer
- how much the cells look like normal cells - this is called the grade of the cancer
- how well the treatment works
- if the cancer comes back after treatment
Some studies show that survival is better for women than men.
More statistics
For more in-depth information about survival and anal cancer, go to our Cancer statistics section.
