If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer it’s natural to wonder, “What are my chances of recovery? Can I be cured? What is the likely course of my disease?” If your cancer is advanced, you may ask, “How long do I have to live?” These are all questions about your cancer prognosis.

Talking about prognosis can be hard…even for doctors.

• Read NCI's Understanding Cancer Prognosis Fact Sheet for help in understanding how your doctor determines your prognosis and what the statistics may mean for you.

The NCI Prognosis Video Series (below) offers the perspectives of three patients and their doctor, an oncologist who is also a national expert in doctor-patient communication. View the videos to learn key points about prognosis and how to talk about it, and to gain valuable insight from the personal ways each patient has approached questions about their future.

More Videos in the Prognosis Series

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One Couple's Creative Response Vanessa, an artist, and her husband Roy discover how to support each other’s need for different kinds of information about her colorectal cancer prognosis.

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Diving Out of the Dark Andrew wants details about the likely outcome of his treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and has learned to ask until he gets the information he is looking for.

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From Anger to Acceptance Barbara’s attitude since her diagnosis with pancreatic cancer? No doctor is going to tell her how long she has to live.

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For Doctors, a Patient-Centered Approach Anthony L. Back, M.D., coaches other oncologists about how to discuss prognosis with their patients. Good communication, he says, is part of providing good care: “Talking to patients and their families about prognosis is complicated. But done well, these conversations promote trust, enable patients to plan, and strengthen healthy coping.”