The 5-year survival rate for pleural mesothelioma is almost 10%. This means that 1 in 10 patients with pleural mesothelioma survive 5 years. Patients with peritoneal mesothelioma have a 5-year survival rate of 65%. Cancer is called recurrent when it comes back after treatment.
Recurrence can be local (at or near the same place it started) or distant (spread to organs such as the brain or liver). Mesotheliomas usually recur after initial treatment. If this occurs, additional treatment options depend on the location of the cancer, the treatments that have already been used, and the person's overall health. Chemotherapy can make you feel very tired, sick to your stomach, and make your hair fall out.
However, these problems disappear after treatment is finished. Like many other types of cancer, mesothelioma can go into total or partial remission. In cases of total remission of mesothelioma, cancer symptoms will not be present once tumors are reduced or removed. Complete remission is also called a complete response to cancer treatment.
A study in the journal Lung Cancer found that four patients with pleural mesothelioma achieved complete remission after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy. Partial remission of mesothelioma is much more common than total remission, as doctors may not be able to destroy all of the cancer during treatment. Patients may or may not have symptoms of mesothelioma in cases of partial remission. Mesothelioma is a diagnosis of fatal cancer, which means that patients often die from it.
Although the aggressive form of cancer has an average survival rate of 12 months, new and advanced treatment options can prolong your life. While there is no cure for mesothelioma, some patients live well beyond average survival rates. The median survival in stage 4 is 12 months, but positive responses to treatment may prolong survival. Cancer is likely to continue to spread, possibly leading to respiratory failure or heart failure if tumors spread to the heart.
Watch these survivors and know that remission of mesothelioma may be possible even if the initial prognosis is poor. Some people with peritoneal mesothelioma that has not spread may have an operation called a peritonectomy, which involves the surgeon removing the parts of the peritoneum where the mesothelioma is growing. Your doctor will work with you to develop the best treatment plan for your individual mesothelioma treatment. Almost two-thirds of all patients with peritoneal mesothelioma, 65%, survive five years or more, while the same happens in only 9.6% of pleural patients.
In cases of remission of mesothelioma, you have few or no signs of cancer thanks to medical treatment. Both civil specialists and VA mesothelioma specialists are well-equipped to treat this cancer and help veterans work toward referral. Calling this number connects you to a patient advocate at The Mesothelioma Center, the nation's most trusted mesothelioma resource. Patients with mesothelioma undergoing alternative treatment may have a prognosis that is difficult to estimate.
Most stage I and some stages II and III pleural mesotheliomas are potentially resectable, but there are exceptions. Patients with pleural mesothelioma who receive radiation combined with other treatments live longer than two years. The survival rate for mesothelioma is the percentage of patients who live five years after their diagnosis. The prognosis for a mesothelioma is the general prognosis of a specific patient and can be estimated by a doctor.
There are different systems used to determine the stage of pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma. More than 90% of mesothelioma cases occur in white men, but black patients have a 5-year survival rate nearly 7% better. .
