Stage 4 cancer is not 100% death although when you have stage 4 cancer it's at it's most advanced stage and most serious stage, which means that the cancer is harder to treat or cure.
Many types of cancer are hard to cure completely, but new treatments for cancer help many people live for months, years or even decades.
Stage 4 cancer, just means that the cancer has moved from where it originally started to other parts of the body, like the bones, liver or lungs, but stage 4 cancer does not mean death is right away or soon.
Doctors now treat some stage 4 cancers like a long term illness that can often be managed.
Treatments like immunotherapy and targeted therapy help your body fight the cancer better than older treatment methods for cancer.
And these cancer treatments can also shrink tumors and slow down how fast the cancer grows.
Some cancers also respond much better to modern cancer treatments in stage 4 than others and a person's age and general physical strength and health also affect how well they respond to the cancer treatment.
However stage 4 can sometimes be terminal depending on the condition.
Stage 4 such just indicates where the cancer has spread in the body (metastatic), and terminal indicates that the prognosis of the illness or cancer is not curable and eventually will result in death.
But stage 4 is not always terminal and many people with stage 4 illnesses like stage 4 cancer live for years.
But terminal illness or terminal cancer is what means that someone has a life expectancy of 6 months or less.
Stage 4 is just the measure of physical spread of the cancer.
It simply means that the cancer in stage 4 has spread from it's original site (primary tumor) to distant organs or tissues in the body.
While stage 4 cancer is often considered to be incurable, the main goal with treatment for stage 4 cancer is to extend life and manage symptoms like using systemic therapies such as targeted therapies, chemotherapy and immunotherapy and even palliative care.
The prognosis for people with stage 4 cancer drastically varies depending on the type of cancer.
Take for example stage 4 testicular cancer or even some types of lymphoma cancers are highly curable, although other cancers are treated as a long term, manageable illness.
Terminal is what refers to the cancer or illness that can't be cured and is expected to result in the persons death, often within 6 months or less.
When the cancer is deemed terminal treatment shifts away entirely from shrinking or controlling the tumor or cancer and solely focuses on end of life comfort and quality of life for the person.
The word terminal is usually designated when doctors determine that a persons life expectancy is limited, often 6 months or less.
Having a terminal diagnosis can also occur at earlier stages if the cancer is aggressive, but the word terminal is mostly frequently applied in advanced cases of cancer.