What does prognosis mean?
Prognosis is a medical term that describes the likely outcome of a disease. Depending on the disease, a prognosis can be good or bad. A healthy person recovering from having his appendix out has an excellent prognosis; he will most likely recover completely and have no lingering problems.
The prognosis for cancer is very rarely that good. Cancer prognosis is often expressed in terms of what percent of patients live ten more years, or five more years, or one more year. Keep in mind that a prognosis is an estimate based on everything the doctors know about the patient and the cancer. It should not be viewed as absolute or final, but more like an idea about what is likely to happen.