What is the prognosis for someone with mesothelioma and the treatment options?
Prognosis of mesothelioma is determined by staging the disease
according to severity (stages I-IV). Most people (60%) will die within 2 years of their diagnosis. Only 10% will make it 5 years beyond their initial diagnosis.
Treatment is based on the location and the stage of the illness, along with the overall health of the patient. The aim of treatment is for a cure but the results are more palliative.
Treatment can be surgery, chemo or radiation alone but most frequently it consists of a combination of the 3 treatment methods. Surgical cure is rare but can be attempted by extra pleural pneumonectomy in patients with epitheloidal mesothelioma of the pleura. Most attention is paid to palliative care that will help with the pain and suffering. Thus treatments may consist of various methods of psychotherapy, pain management, nutritional therapy, blood transfusions and a host of other modalities depending on the effects of the disease and the side effects of treatments.