What is the life expectancy for liver cancer?

Life expectancy for someone diagnosed with liver cancer depends on how widespread the cancer is, notes the American Cancer Society. The life expectancy for a cancer survivor is based on how many survivors live five years after diagnosis. For liver cancer, 2 to 28 percent of survivors see that mark.

Only 2 percent of people with a distant spread of liver cancer are still alive 5 years after treatment, states the American Cancer Society. For people with regional spread of the disease, the 5-year survival rate is 7 percent. For people with only local liver cancer, which is liver cancer that hasn't spread, the 5-year survival rate is 28 percent.