Mesothelioma is a very rare and very aggressive cancer. Because it is rare (only 2,000 to 3,000 new cases a year), and because there are new promising treatments emerging, it is hard to give hard-and-fast statistics.Mesothelioma is uniformly fatal. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate is 10%, meaning that five years after diagnosis, approximately 10% of the patients will still be alive. The average survival time after diagnosis is 4 to 18 months.
Younger patients with whose disease is diagnosed earlier and whose cancer has not spread tend to do better.
New treatments are definitely improving the outcome for many patients. This can be seen in the results of clinical trials. There also patients who survive for many years despite the odds.
Dr. Kaplan
