What Is the Worst Type of Cancer?

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Although lung cancer kills more people each year, pancreatic cancer is considered the deadliest type of cancer based on its general prognosis. Only five percent of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live as long as five years following their diagnosis.

Lung cancer kills more than 150,000 people in the United States each year. However this condition primarily strikes those who smoke tobacco products, as stated in an NBC News report.

Pancreatic cancer, on the other hand, may strike anyone. CNN reports that more than 37,000 people die of pancreatic cancer in the United States each year, making it the fourth-leading cause of death from any type of cancer, following lung, colon and breast cancer, in the nation. Worse, roughly 95 percent of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer die from the condition. A number of celebrities, including Patrick Swayze and Steve Jobs, have died from pancreatic cancer, making the public more aware of the condition. Even so, pancreatic cancer tends to attract less funding than other types of cancer, including breast and lung cancer.

A Living Healthy 360 article reports that those diagnosed with State I pancreatic cancer have a 37 percent chance of surviving the disease, while those diagnosed at Stage IV have a 1 percent chance of survival.