Mesothelioma life expectancy is not good. It takes so many years to develop symptoms that are severe enough to even think of going to doctors and taking imaging tests, that this disease is almost impossible to cure. Even when you notice the symptoms, it is easy to misdiagnose what you have...that cough, fatigue, fever, and chest pain can be any number of lesser illnesses, but if you've worked with asbestos in the past, get it checked when you first notice.
Mesothelioma Is Usually Diagnosed After Age 60
This form of cancer is usually diagnosed after the age of sixty, or well into the retirement years. And at that age, when you develop a chronic cough, you are more inclined to assume it is asthma, allergies, or emphysema. Life expectancy for mesothelioma is short...often less than six months, and rarely longer than a year. However, there are exceptions, and new treatments and testing methods are in clinical trials at this time.
Pleural Mesothelioma: The Only One With Set Stages
Only one form of mesothelioma has set stages, and that is pleural mesothelioma. There are basically four stages. In the first stage, the cancer has only affected one layer of the pleura. When it has invaded both layers on one side of the body it becomes stage 2. When it spreads to the chest wall and the lymph nodes on one side of the body it is in stage 3. Stage for has the cancer metastasizing to other organs and the bones on both sides of the body.
Are Your Cancer Cells Epithelioid?
If you have mesothelioma, your life expectancy is slightly better if your cancer cells are epithelioid, which is the most easily treated of these cancers. Sarcomatoid cells are more resistant to treatment and are far more aggressive. The third type is called biphasic, and is a mix of both types of cell.
Check Out Aggressive Chemotherapy Procedures
There are doctors who are using very aggressive chemotherapy procedures, in order to increase the length of survival time to allow for surgery. In other cases surgery is performed first and then hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy is used. In this method, the medication is delivered directly into the cancerous area by means of a shunt. This method shows great promise...if the patient qualifies for this type of treatment. When reviewing three hundred cases, the results were hopeful for mesothelioma life expectancy...75% survived for a year, and of those 50% survived for five years!
Early Detection Is Key With This Cancer
So what else effects the survival rate with this disease? Because this cancer is latent, detection time is of number one importance. How old the patient is seems to have a bearing on it. Which type of mesothelioma the patient has contracted will matter. Smoking will decrease mesothelioma life expectancy greatly. The patient must quit smoking immediately in order to have any quality of life.
I can't go into all of the information that's available about mesothelioma life expectancy as it varies from patient to patient.
However, if you want to learn more about how to deal with this disease, you can check out the Mesothelioma Resource [http://www.mesotheliomaresourceguide.com] Guide. I had a friend with mesothelioma, and I have put together a resource site where you can get good information about all facets of mesothelioma help available. Feel free to visit it at: www.mesotheliomaresourceguide.com [http://www.mesotheliomaresourceguide.com]
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sandi_Oertell
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