Understanding Sarcoma

How Long Will I Live With Sarcoma? 

Last updated and reviewed on May 27, 2026.

One of the first questions many people have after a sarcoma diagnosis is: "How long do I have?" This is a completely understandable question. It is also one of the hardest to answer. The truth is that no doctor can tell any individual patient exactly how long they will live. What doctors can share are statistics about how groups of patients have done in the past, and these numbers can give some general guidance.

This guide explains what survival statistics mean, what factors affect outlook, and why statistics are not the whole story.

What Are Survival Statistics?

Doctors often talk about survival in terms of a "5-year relative survival rate." This means: out of a group of people with a certain type and stage of cancer, what percentage were still alive 5 years after their diagnosis? A 5-year survival rate of 70% means that about 70 out of 100 people with that diagnosis were still alive 5 years later, and 30 were not.

These statistics come from large databases like the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) database, which is maintained by the National Cancer Institute. They reflect outcomes from many patients diagnosed over the past several years, and they do not account for the most recent advances in treatment.

Survival Rates for Soft Tissue Sarcoma

According to the American Cancer Society, the overall 5-year survival rates for soft tissue sarcoma by stage are approximately:

These numbers are averages across all types of soft tissue sarcoma. Individual subtypes can differ significantly.

Survival Rates for Bone Sarcoma

For osteosarcoma, the most common bone sarcoma, the 5-year survival rates are roughly:

For Ewing sarcoma, 5-year survival rates are approximately:

For chondrosarcoma, which tends to be a lower-grade cancer, localized disease has a very high survival rate (over 90%), while distant disease has a much lower rate (around 23%).

Why These Numbers Are Not the Whole Story

Survival statistics are based on large groups of patients and cannot predict what will happen for any individual person. Here is why:

Statistics are averages. Behind every number is a wide range of individual experiences. Some patients at a "distant" stage do far better than average because of successful treatment.

Statistics reflect the past. The numbers you see today are based on patients diagnosed years ago. Sarcoma treatment has been improving, and newer treatments like better targeted therapies for GIST and new immunotherapy approaches may lead to better outcomes than old statistics suggest.

Sarcoma has many subtypes. The survival rate for a low-grade liposarcoma that was completely removed with surgery is very different from the survival rate for a high-grade, metastatic leiomyosarcoma. The overall number does not capture these differences.

Individual factors matter enormously. Your age, overall health, response to treatment, the specific genetic features of your tumor, where you receive care, and many other factors all affect outcomes. Patients treated at high-volume sarcoma specialty centers consistently have better outcomes than those treated at centers with less experience.

Factors That Affect Outlook

Doctors consider several things when thinking about a patient's prognosis (expected outcome):

• Stage: Localized sarcomas (those that have not spread) have a much better prognosis than metastatic sarcomas.

• Grade: High-grade tumors (whose cells look very abnormal and grow quickly) are more dangerous than low-grade tumors.

• Size: Smaller tumors are generally easier to remove completely and have a better prognosis.

• Location: Sarcomas that can be surgically removed with clear margins have a better prognosis than those in difficult-to-reach areas.

• Subtype: Certain subtypes respond much better to treatment than others.

• Surgical margins: Whether the surgeon was able to remove the entire tumor with a rim of healthy tissue around it (called negative/clear margins) has a major impact on whether the cancer comes back.

• Response to chemotherapy: For bone sarcomas treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, how well the tumor responds (the amount of tumor cell death seen in the surgical specimen) is a strong predictor of outcome.

• Age and overall health: Younger, healthier patients generally tolerate treatment better and may have better outcomes.

What You Can Do

Knowing your prognosis can feel overwhelming, but it can also help you and your family plan. Some people find it helpful to know the statistics so they can make decisions about treatment and priorities. Others prefer to focus on getting through treatment day by day without dwelling on numbers. Both approaches are valid.

What is most helpful for most patients is working with an experienced sarcoma team, exploring all treatment options, including clinical trials, and asking for supportive care early in the process to help manage symptoms and maintain quality of life. Advances in sarcoma treatment continue to be made, and what seems possible today may be different from what was possible even a few years ago.

SOURCES: 

• American Cancer Society. Survival Rates for Soft Tissue Sarcomas. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/soft-tissue-sarcoma/detection-diagnosis-staging/survival-rates.html

• American Cancer Society. Survival Statistics for Bone Cancer. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/bone-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/survival-statistics.html

• Gronchi A, et al. Outcome prediction in primary resected retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma. Annals of Surgery. 2013. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23530096/

• Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. Cancer Statistics, 2024. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2024;74(1):12–49. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38230766/