Is Mesothelioma Cancer an Instant Death Sentence?

When most people hear that they may have lung cancer, and specifically the aggressive mesothelioma cancer, they immediately start counting the months they have to live. This is because people are accustomed to hearing the media hype, and lawyer’s gloomy reports. In fact, not all mesothelioma cancer is deadly.

Malignant mesotheliomas come in three types. The first type is the epithelioid type. This accounts for 50% to 75% of all diagnosed cases. This type offers the best prognosis, and survival rate. Most diagnosis are i pleural mesotheliomas because they are in the chest cavity and affect the lining around the lung. The peritoneal mesotheliomas start in the abdomen.

The second type is sarcomatoid and accounts for less than 20% of all cases. Third type is mixed/biphasic and accounts for 20% to 38% of all cases. Pericardial mesotheliomas, in the cavity around the heart, are very rare. The covering layer of the testicles is actually an outpouching of peritoneum into the scrotum.

Mesotheliomas that affect this covering of the testicles are quite rare. The disease is in its advanced stage by the time the symptoms appear and cancer is diagnosed. The average survival time for these patients is one year.

If the cancer is discovered early and receives aggressive treatment, almost 50% of patients reach the two-year mark. New developments are lengthening this rate to five years. Some patients are living beyond the five year rate.

In many cases, the expected life rate is difficult to determine because patients are suffering from other diseases. This is better than the survival rate of people who suffer from other, more common, types of cancer, or other diseases.

Patients are often told the survival rate is 12 – 18 months – while the survival rate at clinics that specialize in this type of cancer is higher.