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Mesothelioma prognosis and diagnosis has four separate stages.

The Developmental Stages

One of the reasons that makes this cancer so deadly is that during its beginning stages the cancer lies dormant and is only actually discovered long after first exposure, sometimes even decades. For this reason sometimes it can be very hard to pinpoint an exact cause of the exposure.

Usually the mesothelioma is discovered and diagnosed through another health issue that precipitates the finding of mesothelioma. The diagnosis is challenging; however, for the reason that it very much resembles a lot of other common diseases which only furthers a later stage disease diagnosis.

Mesothelioma Types

P malignant mesothelioma is the most frequently diagnosed of the 4 different mesothelioma types.

Pleural malignant mesothelioma both affects the chests cavity as well as well as the tissue that goes around the lungs. Also, this is actually the lone mesothelioma type in which a formal staging along with prognosis information actually exists. The reason for this is that mesothelioma is very rare and more research and studies will need to be done with the purpose of getting particularly good statistical information.

The other 3 are:

1. Peritoneal mesothelioma
2. Pericardial mesothelioma
3. Mesothelioma tunica vaginalis

Disease Diagnosis

Mesothelioma has 4 different stages and as the diagnosis gets worse the disease starts to progress through the stages. The stages are as follows:

1. In stage one the disease is contained 1 area that lines the chest. In this stage the disease may still be operable; however, that is dependent on the specific location in chest cavity. If they are able to remove the entirety of the disease the possibility for someone to recover is increased. The one thing to keep in mind though is the possibility of the cancer coming back is a good one.
2. When the disease progresses to stage 2 it has then went further than the chest and has started to affect other areas and organs; such as, the lung or diaphragm.
3. At stage 3 it’s spread to multiple organs and could have possible already affected the lymph nodes as well. When it comes to the metastasized mesothelioma it often goes to the brain.
4. Stage 4 is all of the above but this is the time where the prognosis is at most, six more months.

The Bottom Line

As hard as it is to take, cancer isn’t something that is easy no matter what kind and honesty is important. Getting a diagnosis of mesothelioma is a bleak one. Those patients that get a mesothelioma diagnosis will generally not live for more than a year.

The patients that get an early diagnosis will likely live longer than the standard. If the cancer is at a stage where it is operable it will be a more favorable prognosis; however, the statistics show that only 10% of those with a mesothelioma diagnosis will make it for more than 5 years.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t fight and possibly beat it but it’s important to know the odds that aren’t sugarcoated so you can make a decision on your treatment or if you’re a family member or a friend know a little more about what it is that they are going through.