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Mesothelioma survivors
In general the prognosis of mesothelioma is poor and most studies report median survival of less than a year. However, there are long term mesothelioma survivors ( both pleural and peritoneal survivors ) who have survived more than 10 years. In fact, in one mesothelioma study, doctors writing about the prognosis of mesothelioma explained that long-term mesothelioma survivors do exist and their prognosis may be independent of the treatment or therapies pursued.3 If this is true, it would suggest that mesothelioma prognosis and survival may be more dependent on individual differences among patients ( and perhaps the non-conventional therapies they use ) and less dependent upon conventional mesothelioma treatment.
Mesothelioma cancer treatment and therapies Standard treatment for all but localized mesothelioma is generally not curative. Surgery and radiotherapy have a limited role in highly selected mesothelioma patients and chemotherapy is the only potential treatment option for the majority of people diagnosed with mesothelioma. Sometimes, these mesothelioma therapies are combined. Despite activity of some chemotherapy, the results are still modest, with a median survival of approximately one year. For individual patients, treatment for mesothelioma depends on the location of the cancer, the stage of the disease, and the patient's age and general health. The only FDA approved chemotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma (in combination with cisplatin) is pemetrexed ( Alimta ). In the key clinical trial that led to its approval for mesothelioma, Alimta was combined with another chemotherapy drug ( cisplatin ) and compared with cisplatin alone. The median survival for the patients who received both chemotherapy drugs was 12.1 months versus 9.3 months for mesothelioma patients who only received cisplatin.
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