Prognosis

Prognosis (older Greek πρόγνωσις, modern Greek πρόγνωση - literally fore-knowing, foreseeing) is a medical term denoting the doctor's prediction of how a patient's disease will progress, and whether there is chance of recovery. Since the 20th century, the word is being increasingly used in non-medical contexts as well, for example in corporate finance.

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The most accurate form of prognosis is achieved statistically. By comparing large groups of patients by the stage of their disease, a statistical pronouncement can be made on the survival chances of a patient with a particular constellation of symptoms. Possibly the best examples are in tumor staging, where careful investigation of the degree of progression of cancer has been shown to significantly predict survival. The prognosis for well-studied chronic diseases is usually stated in terms of the percentage of patients with a similar illness who historically have survived for one, three, or five years. For example, for most prostate cancers the five year survival rate is above 90%, whereas for most lung cancers, it is less than 10%.

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Doctor: Doctor means teacher in Latin. It has been used continuously as an honored academic title for over a millennium in Europe, where it dates back to the rise of the university. This use spread to the Americas, former European colonies, and is now prevalent in most of the world. As a prefix – &ldq...