Mesothelioma Prognosis

Factors that Affect Prognosis

Mesothelioma is usually diagnosed in four different stages. Unfortunately, treatment options become limited when in the third and fourth stages of the disease. The main problem lies in the symptoms of the disease, which arise late in cancer development and resemble less threatening conditions.

Mesothelioma takes a long time to develop and patient symptoms to not present until the late stages of the disease. Unfortunately, if a patient is diagnosed with Stage 4 mesothelioma, the treatment options are very limited and often of the palliative nature.

Because of the long time it takes for patients to exhibit symptoms of mesothelioma, it is generally not diagnosed until late stages of development. Often the symptoms of mesothelioma are very generic and resemble less serious conditions, making it a difficult disease to diagnose. Because of the challenge in accurately diagnosing mesothelioma in an early stage, the resulting prognosis is generally poor and treatment options for patients limited.


Treatment options are typically based off of the stage of mesothelioma. Unfortunately, the later stages of mesothelioma allow for less effective treatment options, where surgery is often not a viable option.

A mesothelioma prognosis is based upon a multitude of factors, including a patient’s age and the stage of the cancer. The prognosis is also dictated by the size and location of the tumor and whether or not surgery is a viable option. Fluid in the lungs or abdomen will also show the extent of the symptoms and the invasiveness of treatment that doctors can perform. Many mesothelioma treatments can be hard on the patient due to the advanced age that is often associated with the disease.

Mesothelioma Life Expectancy Factors

Patients who understand the prognostic factors that are associated with mesothelioma can greatly improve their life expectancy. While each mesothelioma case is different, the earlier a patient is diagnosed the better chance of survival they have, while some patients who may have been long-term smokers with weakened lungs and poor overall health will have a poorer prognosis.

Multimodality therapy has shown positive results in a number of mesothelioma survivors. Utilizing a mix of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy to combat the cancer, this combo of treatment options has increased life expectancy up to five years or more in some studies. With the amount of research breakthroughs and the increased reports of mesothelioma survivors, hope is available to mesothelioma patients more than ever before in the search for a cure.

Mesothelioma Survival Rates – Recent Improvements

A term that is used to describe the survival rate in all types of mesothelioma is the “five-year relative survival rate.” One goal that researchers and doctors strive for is to help cancer patients live past the five-year survival rate for their cancer.

Thankfully, the survival rate for mesothelioma patients has improved markedly over the past few years. In 2002, the five-year survival rate was 9 percent, while it has increased to 10 percent along with the one-year survival rate which has risen to 40 percent. Numerous factors affect a mesothelioma prognosis, such as age and the overall health of the patient, but the average survival rate reported over th