Mesothelioma Patients--Determining Life Expectancy of Mesothelioma Patients

Once a person has been diagnosed with a cancer of any sort, the doctors will put their heads together to determine how great of a chance of survival the person will have with successful treatment. They will also try to determine how long they think the person will live without treatment or if treatment is unsuccessful.

In determining how long a person who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma has to live, the doctors will examine a number of factors. While it is true that they examine a number of known factors, every patient is a unique case whose life expectancy cannot be predicted with complete accuracy. Due to almost daily advances in the field of cancer treatment, the life expectancy of a person diagnosed with mesothelioma now is greater than that of a person who was diagnosed five years ago.

That being said, mesothelioma is still a serious disease that has not experience much luck in finding effective treatment options. Still, life expectancy is greater today than someone five years ago.

After analyzing all of the mesothelioma cases presented, doctors have determined that the middle portion of the bell curve is 4 and 18 months. This means that 25% of people diagnosed with mesothelioma live less than four months and 25% live for more than eighteen months. 50% of all diagnosed with mesothelioma live between four and eighteen months. While this information is scary, it does not break the cases down into stages of diagnosis or even whether treatment is even attempted.

Factors that influence the life expectancy of any cancer patient, including those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, vary. Some of the factors include:

- The stage of the disese when diagnosed

- The point at which it is diagnosed

- Whether the cancer is localized or has spread

- The patient's age and health condition

- Wha treatments are feasible based on the condition and health of the patient

Out of all of the factors influencing the life expectancy of a person diagnosed with mesothelioma, the stage of mesothelioma at diagnoses is the most important piece of the puzzle. It is the greatest indicator of how long or how short a patient's life expectancy is. Because the early symptoms of mesothelioma actually resemble those of other, much more common illnesses, many patients are misdiagnosed in the early stages. By the time the cancer has been discovered, the cancer has already reached an advanced stage.