The Horrible Truth About Being Diagnosed with Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is an aggressive disease that seldomly gets detected early, making successful treatment a challenge. The most common types of mesothelioma cancer are pleural and peritoneal; pleural cancer affects the lungs while peritoneal cancer affects the abdominal cavity. The prognosis of surviving mesothelioma is bleak for most patients, but not impossible.
Facts
Mesothelioma is categorized by both its location in the body and its cell type. Many people diagnosed with mesothelioma only survive a year or two after diagnosis and only about 9 percent of patients with this disease will live 5 years or more. Many factors determine a person’s survival rate and life expectancy. Age, gender, stage of the disease, cell type, location in the body, and genetics are amongst the factors that can influence the life expectancy of a patient.
While the patient’s outcome is not always the same, age and gender are usually the most salient predictors of a patient’s life expectancy. Mesothelioma patients who have detected the disease in the early stages will have a longer life expectancy than those who were diagnosed at a later stage.
Typically, there is a survival rate of 73% after one year for patients with the pleural form of mesothelioma and it goes down to 23% after three years. Those who suffer from peritoneal mesothelioma have survival rates of 92% after one year and 74% after three years. Studies have shown that women survive an average of 5 to 6 months longer than men.
Other types of mesothelioma are pericardial (affecting the lining of the heart) and testicular (affecting the membrane surrounding the testes.) Only about 1% of all cases are pericardial, and testicular mesothelioma cases account for a tiny fraction of that.
What Does This Mean?
The horrible truth about being diagnosed with mesothelioma is that currently there isn’t a cure for it. Some mesothelioma patients have experienced complete remission, but unfortunately, this is rare. Researchers are constantly searching for new treatment options and hopefully one day we will have a cure for this type of cancer. Once you have been diagnosed with this disease and have researched the right doctor to help you fight this medical illness, you need to consider contacting an attorney that can take on the legal fight for you.
What’s Next?
Individuals suffering from mesothelioma can take legal action against the companies or manufacturers responsible for their asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma patients face daunting medical bills and other expenses related to the deadly disease. Filing a lawsuit means mesothelioma patients and their families can seek compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, and other expenses. It is important to contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney as soon as you receive your diagnosis so they can get started on your potential case immediately.
Our attorneys at Baron & Budd not only have more than 40 years of experience, but they have been responsible for some of the biggest decisions made on these types of cases. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, please call Baron & Budd at 855-280-7664 or complete our contact form to receive a completely confidential evaluation.