Even though mesothelioma, which is also known as asbestos cancer, is quite a rare disease, it is considered as one of the most dangerous and lethal forms of cancer which is diagnosed. In addition, it is one of the most difficult types of cancer to detect in as much as it has long period of dormancy: a patient with mesothelioma can live between twenty to fifty years before the first symptoms of the very disease show up. When a patient does get symptomatic, doctors commonly often lose precious treatment time since mesothelioma warning signs mimic the symptoms of common respiratory problems. Additionally, it is also known as an aggressive type of cancer which can spread rapidly from the affected areas of the body to the other organs in the body. These particular factors, when amalgamated with the demographic of who is apparently more susceptible to the disease, have made mesothelioma particularly deadly.
If you or your loved one suffer from mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer, you are likely to be qualified for substantial compensation. These days, there is more than thirty billion dollars in asbestos trust funds, which awaits those who have been diagnosed with the asbestos ailment. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, then you had better fill out form of asbestos claim for a compensation, which is filled with information regarding top mesothelioma attorneys in your area. Also you will get details about how to get paid in ninety days, how to file asbestos trust fund claim, and so on.
Statistics pertinent to Mesothelioma
In accordance with a 2099 report released by the Centers for Disease Control, which is also known as CDC, about 18,000 patients are diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, and they died between 1999 and 2005. Even though year-to-year numbers may differ, the yearly death rate of mesothelioma patients reaches an average of 14 per one million. When compared, this is actually still quite small percentage of the whole population. However, it is the particular lethality of the very disease and its relative rarity which make mesothelioma a disease with very low survival rates. Even though the survival rates of mesothelioma patients are dependent on a wide range of factors, a patient may expect to have a pot diagnosis survival time of between 4 months to one year and a half. Bear in mind, however, that there are always some exceptions to this particular notion and each patient should speak to their physician about their own personal expectation and general health condition.
Commonly how long a patient lives after being diagnosed with mesothelioma will depend on a wide array of variables, which may include, yet not limited to, age, race, gender, and overall health. For example, if a patient is a male between twenty five and thirty four years of age and in good physical condition without any preexisting conditions, the chances of surviving longer than eighteen months are still quite promising. Patients such as these get the advantage from early detection and surgical treatment of asbestos cancer. Bear in mind that this age group denotes of the least affected by cancer related to asbestos, however.
The average survival rates for older patients is bleaker. In accordance with the American Cancer Society (ACC), even though five to ten percent of patients diagnosed with mesothelioma can live for many years or more after the disease has been diagnosed, these individuals are commonly young with cancers which can be treated through surgery.
In as much as the average mesothelioma patients tend to be a white male who is aged 60 to 70 and was heavily exposed to asbestos during his active work periods, the cancer is already developed quite well and cannot be treated with surgical approaches. Older patients may also have rather debilitating health conditions, such as hypertension and cardiopulmonary disease, which will in fact reduce their lifespans.Patients in these two age brackets (75 to 84 and 65 to 74) have the highest deaths in totals. From the years 1999 through 2005, 12,150 out of the 18,086 recorded mesothelioma-caused deaths were happened to those aged 65 through 84.
Some Survival Rate Facts to Consider
Generally speaking, it is actually hard, if not impossible, to predict the accurate life expectancy after a patent has been diagnosed with the asbestos cancer. Along with each patient’s case being different from the next, the disease is still taken into account as a new and distinctive form of cancer, and the averages based on the tumor-lymph node metastasis (TNM) process of staging are still quite hard to evaluate at this juncture. However, studies suggest that a patient’s pot diagnosis life expectancy will be highly dependent on the combination of a number of factors.
- Latency: unluckily, mesothelioma has quite extremely long latency period, typically up until twenty to fifty years after the initial exposure. This does make it difficult to get an early detection, thereby, shortening the patient’s survival rates. The sooner the disease is diagnosed or detected, the higher his or her life expectancy and the survival rate.
- The stage of the cancer after initial diagnosis: the victims in the stage one or two of mesothelioma have a much higher survival rate than those that are diagnosed in the later stages, stage three and four.
- Tumor removal:surgery is commonly not a good option as the most cases of mesothelioma are revealed after the disease has developed to its later stages. But, if the disease is caught early and the tumor can be removed through surgery, the survival rate is commonly prolonged.
- Age: as stated previously, age does play influential bearings on patient’s life expectancy. The younger the patient is, the higher the chance they have in surviving longer and also increasing the life expectancy. However, although rare, some older patients in optimal physical health may have just as good of a chance as those at young age.
- The area of disease: mesothelioma affects various regions of the body. The majority of mesothelioma cases do affect the pleural area of the body, yet there are some instances in which the abdominal cavity as well as some other areas in the body will be affected by mesothelioma.
