Survival Rates & Other Prognostic Factors
Although stage is undeniably an important factor in a patient’s prognosis, it is not the only factor. Other factors should be considered as well. These factors include poor performance status—being too sick to perform normal tasks of daily life; shortness of breath; chest pain; weight loss; high white blood cell count; low red blood cell count; and high levels of a substance in the blood called LDH. These are also considered serious factors.
Overall, the five-year relative survival rate for patients with mesothelioma is approximately ten percent. This means that ten percent of patients will live at least five years after their cancer is diagnosed. That figure has actually improved over the last five years. Further, recent studies show that the overall one-year survival rate is now about forty percent, a number that has also improved in the past five years. During the 1990s, it was rare for a mesothelioma patient to live more than a year after diagnosis.