Mesothelioma life expectancy varies depending upon the stage of mesothelioma when you are diagnosed, your health in general, and the location of the mesothelioma. Evaluated together, these factors impact the stage of the disease. Physicians determine the stage of mesothelioma using the TNM staging system -- (T)umor spread, involvement of (N)earby lymph nodes, and whether or not the tumor has (M)etastasized or spread to other areas of the body.
Physicians assign numbers or letters following T, N and M staging categories. The higher the number, the more advanced the mesothelioma is, and the lower the mesothelioma life expectancy. An additional, simpler analysis that physicians make is determining whether or not the mesothelioma is resectable or unresectable. The tumor is resectable when it can be removed by surgery, and unresectable when it is unable to be removed surgically. Life expectancy is usually longer for patients with resectable mesothelioma.
The symptoms of mesothelioma can be mistaken for many other diseases, and the disease also progresses gradually. The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation reports that the majority of patients diagnosed with chest and lung, also known as pleural mesothelioma, are diagnosed after their cancer has become advanced. Frequently, patients with advanced pleural mesothelioma cannot be treated with surgery, and they receive treatment only to relieve pain and other symptoms. When this occurs, the inoperable mesothelioma has metastasized or spread to other areas of the body, and it is always associated with a short life expectancy.
Patients who were diagnosed with an advanced stage of mesothelioma and had poor health factors have averaged as low as four months life expectancy after diagnosis, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). The ACS reports that studies have found that the average survival time following diagnosis of mesothelioma is between four and eighteen months. The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation reports that with improved treatments and the potential for earlier diagnosis, average mesothelioma life expectancy after diagnosis is twelve to eighteen months and is slowly increasing. The American Cancer Society says that between 5 and 10 percent of people with mesothelioma live at least five years after diagnosis.
Although learning that some patients live only four months after diagnosis is devastating, mesothelioma life expectancy depends upon many different individual health and disease factors. Additional factors leading to a longer life expectancy after diagnosis include good general health, younger age, lack of chest pain, no significant weight loss, normal levels of an enzyme found in the blood called LDH, and normal red and white blood cell and platelet counts. Mesothelioma involves many different organ systems. To improve your life expectancy, you may work with a thoracic surgeon (a surgical specialist in the lungs and chest), an oncologist (a specialist in radiation or chemotherapy), and a pulmonologist (a specialist in the medical treatment of the lungs).
If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, it's also important to know that, although the disease continues to occur, it is rare, with only about 3,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States. The rarity of mesothelioma means that many physicians lack experience with the disease. This is just one of a number of important reasons why you should receive treatment from an expert mesothelioma treatment team that has a lot of experience. Mesothelioma life expectancy can be significantly improved by expert medical treatment.
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