Survival of vulval 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 (prognosis).
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 watch 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.
Survival by stage
There are no UK-wide statistics available for vulval cancer survival by stage.
5 year survival statistics are available for some stages of vulval cancer in England. These figures are for people diagnosed between 2013 and 2017. These 5 year statistics are non-age-standardised which means they don't take into account the age of the women with vulval cancer.
Stage 1
Around 80 out of every 100 women with stage 1 vulval cancer (around 80%) will survive for 5 years or more after they are diagnosed.
Stage 2
Around 50 out of every 100 women with stage 2 vulval cancer (around 50%) will survive for 5 years or more.
Stage 3
Around 40 out of every 100 women with stage 3 vulval cancer (around 40%) will survive for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
Stage 4
The Office for National Statistics doesn't provide 5 year survival statistics for vulval cancer. The following statistics are for 1 year survival for people with stage 4 vulval cancer.
Please remember, this doesn't mean you will only live 1 year. It relates to the number of people who are still alive 1 year after their diagnosis of cancer. Some of these people will live much longer than 1 year.
More than 40 out of 100 people with stage 4 vulval cancer (more than 40%) will survive their cancer for 1 year or more after their diagnosis.
Cancer survival by stage at diagnosis for England, 2019
Office for National Statistics
These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2013 and 2017.
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 5 year statistics don’t take into account the age of the people with vulval cancer. Statistics that do take into account the age (age-standardised statistics) are not available.
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.
Survival for all stages
Generally, for women with vulval cancer in England:
- around 85 out of 100 women (around 85%) will survive their cancer for 1 year or more after diagnosis
- more than 65 out of 100 women (more than 65%) will survive their cancer for 5 years or more after diagnosis
Cancer survival by stage at diagnosis for England, 2019
Office for National Statistics
These figures are for people diagnosed in England between 2013 and 2017.
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 the background mortality that they would have experienced if they had not had cancer.
Melanoma of the vulva
Melanoma of the vulva is very rare so it is difficult to find statistics for survival.
There are no UK-wide survival statistics available for vulval melanoma. The statistics below are from a small English study. Please be aware that due to differences in health care systems, data collection and the population, these figures may not be a true picture of survival in the UK
5 year survival
- 15 out of 100 women (15%) survive their vulval melanoma for 5 years or more
Management of malignant vulval melanoma: a retrospective case series and review of the literature
S Platt and others
Journal of lower genital tract disease, 2020. Vol 24, Issue 3. Pages 272-276
What affects survival
Your outcome depends on different factors including your age. Studies have shown that women diagnosed with vulval cancer at a younger age, have a better outcome than those diagnosed later.
Other factors include:
- the stage of the cancer when it was diagnosed. This means how big it is and whether it has spread.
- the type of vulval cancer you have
- how abnormal the cancer cells look under the microscope. This is the grade of the cancer.
More detailed statistics
For more in-depth information about survival and vulval cancer, go to our Cancer Statistics section.
