Mesothelioma Life Expectancy
The mesothelioma life expectancy of any patients is the projected number of months or years they are expected to live after they are diagnosed. Generally, a person with mesothelioma can expect to live for one year -- but this is only an average.
A number of factors affect the mesothelioma life expectancy. Overall health, age, stage at diagnosis and the type of mesothelioma all play a role.
A number of factors affect the mesothelioma life expectancy. Overall health, age, stage at diagnosis and the type of mesothelioma all play a role.
Find a Treatment center in Your Area
The life expectancy of an American in 2009 was 78.5 years. On average, mesothelioma cancer shortens life expectancy by 13 years, according to data collected between 1999 and 2005 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The good news is that researchers and doctors have worked for decades to improve mesothelioma life expectancy. Survival rates increased steadily over the past several decades, and with more expected treatment advancements, more gains are anticipated.
While there is no definitive cure for mesothelioma, patients can try to gain more time with loved ones by participating in specialized treatment and implementing lifestyle changes like exercise and diet. These therapies and clinical trials can often improve not only someone's quality of life, but also the duration of it.
Factors Affecting Mesothelioma Life Expectancy
What influences how long you can live after being diagnosed with mesothelioma? Tumor-related factors like stage at diagnosis and the tumor’s cell type are among the most influential on mesothelioma life expectancy. Other non-tumor factors such as gender and age also play a role.
Top 6 Mesothelioma Life Expectancy Factors
- Stage at diagnosis
- Primary tumor location
- Tumor cell type/histology
- Performance status
- Gender
- Blood characteristics
Tumor-Related Factors
The stage of your cancer at the time of diagnosis, tumor cell type, and the location of the tumor, have substantial influence on mesothelioma life expectancy. These are known as tumor-related factors. These factors influence the types of treatment options your doctor has available for developing a treatment strategy.
Staging: The exact stage of your cancer at the time of diagnosis - how far it has progressed - has the most impact on life span. The late onset of mesothelioma symptoms is largely responsible for the typical late-stage diagnosis seen in most patients. Symptoms don’t usually arise until stage III or IV, which results in patients visiting the doctor once the cancer has already progressed well beyond where it developed. The earlier you are diagnosed, the more likely the cancer will be caught in an early stage and the better the prognosis.
Tumor Location: Mesothelioma is identified by where it first forms in the body. That location is important because some forms of the disease are more researched, more easily understood and more treatable than others. Pleural mesothelioma, which affects the lining of the lungs, makes up about 75 percent of mesothelioma cases and therefore receives the most research and treatment attention. That translates into more and better treatment options.
Cell Type: Certain types of cells that make up a mesothelioma tumor respond better to treatment than others. For instance, tumors made up primarily of epithelial cells respond best to treatment. Because tumors made up primarily of epithelial cells are easier to treat they have a better associated life expectancy. In contrast, tumors made up primarily of the sarcomatoid cell type or the biphasic (mixed) cell type are more difficult to treat and are associated with a shorter life expectancy.
Non-Tumor Factors
In addition to the tumor-related factors, some non-tumor factors can also influence your mesothelioma life expectancy. Traits like overall health, age, gender and even characteristics of your blood are all indicative of how well your body will respond to treatment and how difficult it might be for you to recover from that treatment.
Other Factors
Mesothelioma life expectancy may also be affected by demographic and lifestyle factors of the patients, such as:
Performance Status: A more technical expression for “overall health,” performance status aims to quantify the activity level and general fitness of a patient. Nearly all studies that examined performance status in pleural mesothelioma patients showed a significant effect on survival. The more active and fit you are, the more likely your body will be able to withstand and recover from aggressive treatments.
Age: As we age, our bodies lose the ability to recover from aggressive therapies and procedures. And as we get older, we are more likely to have other health conditions that could preclude us from certain types of treatment. These facts are significant because most people diagnosed with mesothelioma are between 50 and 70 years old, with about 75 percent of patients in their mid-60s. That means younger, healthier patients can find themselves with more options for treatment than an older, less-healthy cancer patient.
Gender: Historically, men experienced more occupational exposure to asbestos than women. Because of their increased exposure, men are four times more likely to develop mesothelioma than women. Studies show that women with epithelial mesothelioma tend to live longer than men do. Researchers are not sure why women have better mesothelioma life expectancy.
Blood Characteristics: Some cells and biomarkers found in the blood appear to have an impact on mesothelioma life expectancy. For example, several studies report that thrombocytosis (high blood platelet count) and leukocytosis (high white blood cell count) prior to surgery is associated with shorter mesothelioma life expectancy. Biomarkers such as COX-2, antigen p27, MIB-1, VEGF and glycoprotein 90K have all shown prognostic value in scientific studies on mesothelioma and may have an effect on mesothelioma life expectancy.
Mesothelioma Life Expectancy, Treatment and Survivors
The types of treatment options that your doctor will discuss with you are directly related to both tumor and non-tumor factors unique to you. In developing a treatment strategy, your doctor will choose treatments that he or she believes will have the most positive impact with the least physical side effects. He or she will take into account all the factors and develop a treatment strategy that will balance risk versus reward.
Medical studies show mesothelioma life expectancy is affected most positively by a multimodal treatment strategy, where two or more treatments are combined to magnify the therapeutic effects. However, this type of treatment strategy is usually considered aggressive. Because it is an aggressive strategy, it places a tremendous strain on the body. As a result, you may not qualify for this type of treatment.
Generally, to qualify for multimodal therapy the cancer must be in stage I or stage II. Some stage III patients qualify, too, if they are in otherwise good health, are relatively younger in age and have an epithelial or biphasic tumor type.
Common multimodal combinations are traditional treatments of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. Other combinations can include experimental therapies such as immunotherapy, gene therapy and photodynamic therapy.
Prolonging Your Mesothelioma Life Expectancy
Clearly, many aspects of your body and your life impact how long you will live with mesothelioma. Of all of them, catching mesothelioma in its earliest stages of development is considered by some to be the most important factor for longer life expectancy. If you were exposed to asbestos at any point in your life, you should tell your doctor and also schedule regular screenings for asbestos-related diseases.
New technology is being developed that could allow doctors soon to detect mesothelioma with a simple, noninvasive blood test, which should lead to earlier diagnoses and more effective management of the disease.
The test involves Selected Reaction Monitoring (SRM) technology that can uncover newly identified, protein-derived biomarkers being released into the circulatory system by mesothelioma tumor cells.
By identifying a panel of protein biomarkers exclusive to mesothelioma, researchers believe they can produce a much more accurate indicator of the disease at a much earlier stage. And almost everyone agrees that treatment options expand greatly at earlier stages.
Doctors in Italy also have conducted a study showing impressive results from a new high-dose radiation system following aggressive pleurectomy/decortication surgery. The two-year survival rate was 70 percent.
Studies also show that mesothelioma patients have benefitted from alternative or complementary therapies such as acupuncture, meditation, massage and yoga. These alternative therapies may reduce stress, pain and improve quality of life. In addition, a number of dietary changes can affect mesothelioma life expectancy. Considering nutrition in the treatment plan could have positive impacts on side effects, stress levels and response to treatment.
In fact, many long-term mesothelioma survivors seem to have a unifying link: they integrate holistic and natural medicine into their traditional treatment plan. Nutritional regimens, supplementation and alternative therapies like acupuncture are among the holistic approaches mesothelioma survivors have used to their advantage. A number of mesothelioma patients have survived five years or longer because of their treatment, exercise and nutritional regimens.
Impact of Experimental Treatments on Mesothelioma life expectancy
There is a chance that someone's best opportunity at a longer life with mesothelioma comes from experimental treatment - clinical trials. Mesothelioma researchers constantly test new medications and treatment approaches, and clinical trials allow patients to take advantage of new treatments that may extend survival, but may also come with a higher element of risk.
There are several experimental therapies being investigated to slow the progress of mesothelioma. Some show promise in extending mesothelioma life expectancy, including immunotherapy and photodynamic therapy (PDT). Newer, targeted drugs that are effective in killing cancer cells - such as gene therapy, which attempts to replace or repair the defective genes in cancerous tumors - may soon extend life expectancy.
There are promising, mesothelioma-specific drugs currently being testing in clinical trials. Among them:
- CRS-207, a genetically-altered bacteria (Listeria) vaccine, is being combined with a standard chemotherapy regimen in a Phase I trial. The vaccine has been modified to reduce its capacity to cause disease while maintaining an ability to stimulate immune responses. Researchers believe it has the potential to fight off mesothelioma tumor cells without harming healthy ones.
- Tremelimumab, an immunotherapy drug that has shown potential with other cancers, is part of a Phase II trial. Researchers believe this drug also will better alert the body's own immune system to the tumors, and accelerate its attack on the bad cells.
- SS1P is an experimental drug designed to specifically attack the mesothelin protein, which is elevated in mesothelioma and other cancers. The trial also includes pentostatin and cyclosphosphamide, drugs that help suppress the body's immune system and could make SS1P more effective. This trial is being done at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD.
Medical advancements continue to refine methods of detecting and managing the disease. As a result, mesothelioma life expectancy is gradually improving. As more research is done and more alternative treatment options are explored, mesothelioma patients are being offered a wider range of choices that may ultimately modify their prognosis and significantly extend mesothelioma life expectancy.
Survivor Stories
Paul Kraus is an Australian factory worker who was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in 1997, 35 years after occupational exposure to crocidolite asbestos. Kraus applied several different therapies and lifestyle changes, including shifting to a vegetarian diet, consuming nutritional supplements and employing ozone therapy, which adds a specific form of oxygen to his blood with the intent of creating a cancer-killing oxygenated environment in his body. He still has mesothelioma but is pain-free and alive.
At the extreme limit of mesothelioma survival is the case of acclaimed American scientist Stephen J. Gould, who lived for 20 years after being diagnosed with the disease. He died of an unrelated condition and authored a popular article about mesothelioma statistics that inspires patients to remain hopeful because each case is unique.
View Article Sources
- CDC. (Oct. 2012). Life Expectancy. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lifexpec.htm
- NIOSH. (March 2012). Malignant Mesothelioma: Mortality; Years of potential life lost. Retrieved fromhttp://www2a.cdc.gov/drds/WorldReportData/FigureTableDetails.asp?FigureTableID=2594&GroupRefNumber=T07-03
- NIOSH. (March 2009). Malignant Mesothelioma: Mortality; Numbers of deaths. Retrieved fromhttp://www2a.cdc.gov/drds/WorldReportData/FigureTableDetailsArchive.asp?FigureTableID=891&GroupRefNumber=T07-01
- Lee, L., Chang, Y. & Wany, J. (2009). Impact of malignant mesothelioma in Taiwan: A 27-year review of population-based cancer registry data. Lung Cancer. Retrieved from http://www.lungcancerjournal.info/article/S0169-5002(09)00314-6/abstract
- Burgers, J.A. & J.P. Hegmans. (2006). Clinicopathological prognostic factors and scoring systems in malignant pleural mesothelioma. In O’Byrne, K. and Rusch, V. (Eds.), Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (105-122). Oxford University Press: New York.
- Steele, J. & Fennell, D. (2005). Prognostic Factors in Mesothelioma. In Pass, H., Vogelzang, N., & Carbone, M. (Eds.), Malignant Mesothelioma (416-427). New York, NY: Springer.
- National Cancer Institute. Overview of Nutrition in Cancer Care. Retrieved from
- http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/pdq/supportivecare/nutrition
- National Cancer Institute. (June 2012). Malignant Mesothelioma Treatment. Retrieved fromhttp://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/malignantmesothelioma/patient/page1/AllPages
- ClinicalTrails.gov. (Dec. 2012). Mesothelioma Clinical Trials. Retrieved from http://clinicaltrials.gov/
No comments:
Post a Comment