Researchers Study Mesothelioma Survival Factors

Mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer typically affecting the lining of the lungs and primarily caused by exposure to airborne asbestos fibers, is highly aggressive and is resistant to many standard cancer treatments.  Currently there is no known cure for mesothelioma, and the average survival time varies from 4 – 18 months after diagnosis.  However, some patients have beaten the odds and improved their survival time while undergoing the same treatments as other patients.  Researchers in Japan recently set out to understand exactly what affects the chances of survival for some mesothelioma patients.

The researchers, reporting on 314 patients diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, found that patients who were older than 70 and who had a high white blood cell count or high levels of C-reactive protein were at a high risk of dying more quickly from malignant mesothelioma.  Levels of C-reactive protein increase in the bloodstream in response to inflammation, infection trauma and burns and can be a sign of advanced cancer.

They also found that patients who had the non-epithelioid form of mesothelioma had lower survival rates.  A further distinction in the type of mesothelioma includes the histological subtypes of epithelioid, sarcomatoid and biphasic or mixed. Sarcomatoid and biphasic  account for only 30% of all mesothelioma cases. 

Epithelioid mesothelioma is the most common and treatable histological subtype.