Mesothelioma is a very aggressive type of cancer, but there are many available treatment options or therapies that can extend and impact patients’ survival rates. However, in recent years, the mesothelioma survival rate has been dismal.
According to research, the mesothelioma survival rate over a year is between four and eighteen months after an accurate diagnosis. However, some mesothelioma patients live much longer than others. Recently, the survival rate of mesothelioma patients who have lived up to 5 years after diagnosis has been reported to be 10%.
There are numerous factors that can influence mesothelioma survival rate, including age, gender, type of cancer, tumor location, mesothelioma stage, and cell type. All of the factors listed above can have an impact on a patient’s chance of survival.
Mesothelioma Early detection, accurate diagnosis, and a treatment option tailored to your specific type of mesothelioma can all improve and impact mesothelioma survival rates.
We will be discussing; this in this post.
- The survival rate of mesothelioma
- List and explain the variables that may influence mesothelioma survival rates.
- Increasing the survival rate of mesothelioma
- Mesothelioma survivors’ testimonies
What Is the Survival Rate For Mesothelioma Cancer?
According to research, the 5-year survival rate for pleural mesothelioma after diagnosis is 9.6%, while the 5-year survival rate for peritoneal mesothelioma after diagnosis is 65%. It should be noted that the percentage of mesothelioma survivors is determined by the amount of time a patient was alive or lived after being diagnosed.
The national cancer institute updates information on mesothelioma survival rates every few years, and the SEER [Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results] program assists them in providing accurate cancer statistics. This program entails practicals, analyses, data collection, data presentation, and interpretation of the results, which can be a type of solution or effort to help reduce the cancer burden.
The mesothelioma survival rate is different from life expectancy. A life expectancy is simply the amount of time or an estimated average age an individual is expected to live.
According to the 2015 meta-study, an analyzed 20 years of data reported that about 73 percent of patients who were diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma live for at least a year and 92 percent of peritoneal mesothelioma were able to live at least a year. This statistic also proves that Peritoneal mesothelioma patients were able to reach a 5 years survival rate than patients with pleural mesothelioma.
Furthermore, the mesothelioma survival rate varies depending on a variety of factors such as the patient’s age, gender identity, mesothelioma stage, and cell type.
According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2022, the annual number of mesothelioma patients who died between 1999 and 2020 increased by 25%. According to the CDC, the number of mesothelioma deaths increased from 489 in 1999 to 614 in 2020.
How Are Mesothelioma Survival Rates Used?
Survival rates are used by mesothelioma researchers to confirm general statistics in groups of people. This statistic assists them in determining the most effective treatment for a specific group of people or patient population. It is also worth noting that mesothelioma survival statistics cannot predict a patient’s prognosis.
Using the mesothelioma survival rate for general statistics can be difficult. For example, mesothelioma researchers or teams who decide to use a 5-year survival rate for a group of people may not include all survivors, such as individuals whose mesothelioma cancer never appeared or mesothelioma patients who are still living with active cancer.
This means that the number of patients or percentage of mesothelioma 5-year survival rate shown online is an estimate.
Understanding your prognosis as a mesothelioma patient
A patient’s prognosis is probably a doctor’s prediction of the outcome of mesothelioma treatment and the outlook patient’s overall health. Mesothelioma survival rates and life expectancy help in providing detailed information which will help doctors to determine a patient’s potential prognosis.
For instance, A man aged 65 that was diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer has approximately a 13.6% five yrs survival rate. His health provider will confirm if he has a better prognosis or not. This confirmation will be based on the cancer-type survival rate, life expectancy, and mortality rate.
Survival rate: Mesothelioma survival rates play an important role in the determination of a patient’s prognosis. it helps your health providers in knowing how long most patients with your type of mesothelioma lives or have lived. So for a doctor to confirm if you have a favorable prognosis is mainly based on your type of cancer’s median overall survival rate.
Life expectancy: life expectancy also helps your doctor in determining if you have a favorable prognosis or not. A life expectancy is simply the median overall age of an individual or people diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer is expected to live which is based on their demographics and other things. There is no doubt that mesothelioma cancer can reduce its carrier life expectancy reasons because mesothelioma symptoms take years or decades to develop so a patient is likely to be diagnosed late. Age at diagnosis and the duration a patient lives with mesothelioma can reduce life expectancy.
Mortality rate: this mortality rate also helps doctors in predicting a patient’s prognosis by revealing the number of people who die of mesothelioma cancer. The death rate is another name for the mortality rate.
Factors affecting mesothelioma survival rate
There are various factors that could affect the mesothelioma survival rate, some of those factors include a patient’s overall health, cell type, and the location of the tumor.
Other factors affecting mesothelioma survival rate are Age, Gender, and mesothelioma stage. All these factors contribute immensely to how long a mesothelioma patient will live after being diagnosed.
Research suggests that women and younger patients that were diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer tend to have long-term survival.
Mesothelioma tumor location
Peritoneal mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the peritoneum in which its survival rate is much more favorable than that of pleural mesothelioma.
About 2/3 of patients with peritoneal mesothelioma have a 65% 5 yrs survival rate and 2/3 of patients diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma cancer have a 9.6% 5 yrs survival rate.
According to the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program, 2018 the mesothelioma survival rate of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma are as follows;
- In pleural mesothelioma -About 42.4% have a 1-year survival rate while in peritoneal mesothelioma about 92% have a 1-year survival rate.
- In pleural mesothelioma – About 15.5% have a 3 years survival while in peritoneal mesothelioma about 74% have a 3 years survival rate.
- In pleural mesothelioma -About 9.6% have a 5 years survival rate while in peritoneal mesothelioma about 65% have a 5 years survival rate.
- In pleural mesothelioma -About 5.4% have a 10 years survival rate while in peritoneal mesothelioma about 39% have a 10 years survival rate.
Note that, Some patients diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer may live above the survival rate estimate depending on the type of treatment given, the cancer stage, and their overall health.
Mesothelioma survival rate based on Gender
Female patients diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer live longer than the opposite gender in spite of their age range, race, mesothelioma stage, and type. Research proves that about 7.3% of men have a 5-year mesothelioma survival rate while about 16.4% of women have a 5-year survival rate.
Mesothelioma cancer is not gender specific but research proves that men are mostly at a higher risk of asbestos exposure, it could be true because there is a higher number of men working in asbestos companies, etc.
- About 48.7% of females diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer have a 1-year survival rate while about 40.3% of males have a 1-year survival rate.
- About 31.6% of females have a 2 years survival rate while 20.4% of males have a 2 years survival rate.
- About 24.2% of females have a 3 years survival rate while 12.6% of males have a 3 years mesothelioma survival rate.
- About 19.5% of females have a 4-year survival rate while 9.5% of males have a 4-year survival rate.
- About 16.4% of females have a 5-year survival rate while 7.3% have a 5-year mesothelioma survival rate.
There could be other reasons attached to why women live longer than men, research suggests that differences in hormones between both genders could possibly explain this and impact survival.
According to research, females are mostly diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma which has a better survival rate than pleural mesothelioma which is rarer among males. This means that the mesothelioma survival rate favors female patients.
Mesothelioma survival rate based on Age
Elderly patients diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer have poor survival rates, on median overall, compared to that of a younger mesothelioma patient. Over 65% of Mesothelioma patients who were diagnosed before clocking 50 years of age lived up to a year. More than 30% of patients that were diagnosed with mesothelioma aged 75 and above live for some months
- Patients who were diagnosed with mesothelioma before the age of 50 have up to a 30.8 percent chance of living for 10 yrs.
- Patients between the age of 50 to 64 have a drop of 7.2 percent chance of living for 10yrs.
- Patients between the age of 65 yrs to 74 yrs have up to 8.5 percent of 5yrs survival rate
- Patients that were diagnosed with mesothelioma between the age of 75 and above have a 4.1 percent 5yrs survival rate. Patients aged 50 have about 65.6% of 1-year mesothelioma survival rate.
- Patients aged 50 to 64 have a 54.9% of 1-year mesothelioma survival rate.
- Patients aged 65 to 74 have a 44.7% of 1-year mesothelioma survival rate.
- Patients aged 75 and above have a 31.0% 1-year mesothelioma survival rate.
Mesothelioma younger patients have been proven to be healthier than elderly patients and they are likely to have better treatment options.
Younger people do not always have chronic conditions like pulmonary disease, other cancer-related diseases and diabetes
Mesothelioma survival rate based on the stage
Mesothelioma cancer stage during diagnosis plays a vital role in determining a patient’s survival rate. The first stage and 2nd stages of mesothelioma cancer are also known as the early stage, a patient diagnosed at the early stage is likely to have a favorable survival rate because cancer has not spread to all the vital organs. The 3rd stage or 4 stages which are also known as the last stage not have a better survival rate, in most cases patients with pleural mesothelioma cancer are mostly diagnosed at the 3rd to 4th stage.
Cancer survival rate was grouped into three stages [Localized, regional and distant stage] Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result program [ SEER]. The groups signify the 4 pleural mesothelioma stages 3 in which the Localized is known as 1 stage, the Regional known as stages 2 and 3, and the distant stage is known as the 4th stage.
Localized or Stage 1 – pleural mesothelioma patients have a 23.5% 5yrs relative survival rate while patients with peritoneal mesothelioma have an 87% 5yrs relative survival rate.
Regional or stages 2 and 3- pleural mesothelioma patients have a 15.7% 5yrs relative survival rate while peritoneal mesothelioma patients have a 53% 5yrs relative survival rate.
Distant or stage 4 – pleural mesothelioma patients have a 7.4% 5yrs relative survival rate while peritoneal patients have a 29% 5yrs relative survival rate.
Once a mesothelioma patient is diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma at the early stage he or she will have a longer-term survival. The stage 1 average survival for pleural patients is 22. 2 months and for stage 2 is about 20 months. However, pleural mesothelioma patients diagnosed at the late stage[stage 3] have an average survival of 17.9 months and stage 4 have an average survival of 14.9 months.
All these factors contribute immensely to how long a mesothelioma patient will live after being diagnosed.
Research suggests that women and younger patients that were diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer tend to have long-term survival.
Mesothelioma tumor location
Peritoneal mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the peritoneum in which its survival rate is much more favorable than that of pleural mesothelioma.
About 2/3 of patients with peritoneal mesothelioma have a 65% 5 yrs survival rate and 2/3 of patients diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma cancer have a 9.6% 5 yrs survival rate.
According to the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program, 2018 the mesothelioma survival rate of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma are as follows;
- In pleural mesothelioma -About 42.4% have a 1-year survival rate while in peritoneal mesothelioma about 92% have a 1-year survival rate.
- In pleural mesothelioma – About 15.5% have a 3 years survival while in peritoneal mesothelioma about 74% have a 3 years survival rate.
- In pleural mesothelioma -About 9.6% have a 5 years survival rate while in peritoneal mesothelioma about 65% have a 5 years survival rate.
- In pleural mesothelioma -About 5.4% have a 10 years survival rate while in peritoneal mesothelioma about 39% have a 10 years survival rate.
Note that, Some patients diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer may live above the survival rate estimate depending on the type of treatment given, the cancer stage, and their overall health.
Mesothelioma survival rate based on Cell type
Mesothelioma cells are of three 3 types, namely Epithelioid, sarcomatoid, and biphasic, cell type at diagnosis can improve or determine a patient’s survival. Epithelioid cells have been proven to be the most common cell type which has a favorable effect on a patient as it is the least aggressive.
Any mesothelioma patient who has epithelioid cell type does have a better treatment outcome and the average survival rate for patients with this type of cell is between twelve to twenty-four months. The most aggressive mesothelioma cell which has a survival rate of 6 to 8 months is the sarcomatoid cell type.
- Epithelioid cell type- Patients with this type of cell have a 21% of mesothelioma relative 5yrs survival rate.
- Sarcomatoid cell type- Mesothelioma patients with this type of cell have a 5% of mesothelioma relative 5yrs survival rate.
- Biphasic cell type – patients with this type of cell have a 20% of mesothelioma relative 5yrs survival rate.
Note that Biphasic is a combination of Epithelioid and Sarcomatoid cell types, And if a patient has more of an epithelioid cell than a sarcomatoid cell he or she may have a favorable prognosis. But otherwise, a patient’s survival may reduce. However, mesothelioma patients with biphasic cell type at diagnosis have an average survival rate of thirteen months.
Conclusion
Many long-term mesothelioma survivors attribute their survival to clinical trials and multidisciplinary approaches, while others attribute their survival to healthy eating.
Despite the low survival rate, some mesothelioma patients have lived for ten years or more after diagnosis. Paul Kraus was exposed to asbestos at work and was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in 1997, at the age of 52. He is undergoing alternative treatment and could live for up to 25 years.
Patients diagnosed with any type of mesothelioma should avoid calculating or comparing their quality of life to the survival rate estimate they see online.
A five-year survival rate for mesothelioma does not demonstrate how mesothelioma symptoms may have a significant impact on their well-being or standard of living.
