What is the survival rate for people diagnosed with colorectal cancer?
Colorectal cancer has an overall 5-year survival rate of approximately 63 percent. When colorectal cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, the 5-year relative survival rate is 90 percent. However, only 38 percent of colorectal cancers are detected at this stage. If the cancer has spread to neighboring organs or lymph nodes, the 5-year survival rate decreases to 66 percent, and if there are distant metastases (the cancer has spread to other parts of the body), the 5-year survival rate drops to 9 percent.