Mesothelioma Prognosis

There is as yet no known cure for malignant mesothelioma. The prognosis depends on various factors, including the size and stage of the tumor, the extent of the tumor, the cell type, and whether or not the tumor responds to treatment. Many patients have lived for five to ten years after diagnosis, most of them in good health for a majority of those years. Some mesothelioma victims succumb within a few months; the average survival time is about a year after diagnosis.

Mesothelioma Treatment

If the diagnosis is mesothelioma, the doctor will want to learn the stage (or extent) of the disease. Staging involves more tests in a careful attempt to find out whether the cancer has spread and, if so, to which parts of the body. Mesothelioma is described as localized if the cancer is found only on the membrane surface where it originated. It is classified as advanced if it has spread beyond the original membrane surface to other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes, lungs, chest wall, or abdominal organs. Knowing the stage of the disease helps the doctor plan treatment. These treatments include:

Surgery: This may entail moving part or all of a lung and some of the surrounding tissue in order to remove the tumour and cancerous cells. It may also be necessary to drain the lungs of fluid, simply to make the patient more comfortable. The extent of surgery will depend largely upon the extent to which the cancer has spread.

Chemotherapy: For this procedure, drugs are used to fight the cancerous cells and kill them as well as shrink the tumour. These drugs can be swallowed by mouth if they are in tablet form, or the doctor may administer them by a needle directly into a vein or muscle. The drugs are then able to travel through the body via the blood stream and kill off any cancer cells that they come across.

Radiation Therapy: This is where high energy x-rays are used either outside the body (external radiation) or directed to the source internally (internal radiation) to shrink the tumour and kill off cancer cells. Internal radiation is preformed through the use of plastic tubing, where the doctor can also administer drugs.

• prognosis - depends on factors such as staging, histology, patient age. If extensive disease then median survival is approximately 5 months - local disease then approximately 16 months

Generally with pleural mesothelioma only symptomatic treatment is available. Curative surgical treatment may be possible with stage 1 disease.

• extrapleural pneumonectomy - this may lengthen time to recurrence
• palliative pain relief and relief from pleural effusions may be mediated by pleurectomy and decortication
• no evidence that radiotherapy or chemotherapy improves survival. Radiotherapy may help with pain management

Treatments that reduce pain and improve lung function, are becoming more successful (although they cannot cure mesothelioma.) Pain control medications have become easier to administer. Debulking is a surgical process of removing a substantial part of the tumor and reducing the pleural thickening; this can provide significant relief. X-ray therapy has also been successfully used to control the tumor and the pain associated with it for a while.

To relieve symptoms and control pain, the doctor may use a needle or a thin tube to drain fluid that has built up in the chest or abdomen. The procedure for removing fluid from the chest is called thoracentesis. Removal of fluid from the abdomen is called paracentesis. Drugs may be given through a tube in the chest to prevent more fluid from accumulating.

New Mesothelioma Treatments

The treatment options for people with mesothelioma have improved significantly, especially for those whose cancer is diagnosed early and treated vigorously. Many people are treated with a combination of therapies, sometimes known as multimodal therapy.

Because mesothelioma is very hard to control, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is sponsoring clinical trials (research studies with people) that are designed to find new treatments and better ways to use current treatments. Before any new treatment can be recommended for general use, doctors conduct clinical trials to find out whether the treatment is safe for patients and effective against the disease. Participation in clinical trials is an important treatment option for many patients with mesothelioma. People interested in taking part in a clinical trial should talk with their doctor.