Mesothelioma is a form of cancer which is relatively rare and typically affects approximately one in one million people. The usual cause of this type of cancer is exposure to asbestos although it can be caused by exposure to other chemicals as well. A mesothelioma prognosis is usually not good, for reasons which will be detailed in this article.

A medical prognosis is the opinions of specialists on the likely results of a particular medical condition. Although this can be accurate statistically for large numbers of people it can never be particularly certain for any individual. A doctor will therefore usually present a prognosis to a patient in terms of statistical likelihoods.

Studies have been undertaken on this subject and demonstrate that a doctor will tend to be a little over-optimistic when a prognosis is given to a patient.

The prognosis for a particular mesothelioma patient is influenced by a variety of elements. This disease has symptoms which can all be caused by other medical problems which makes diagnosis very difficult until the late stages. Also since the disease has a particularly long latency period of up to 50 years, the relationship between cause and effect is separated by large amounts of time.

Some screening methods can help to determine if a patient is likely to develop mesothelioma later, but these are far from precise much of the time. The approaches to screening are continually being researched and there is hope for improved approaches.

Smoking is not a direct cause of this type of cancer. However a combination of exposure to asbestos and smoking has been shown to increase the chances of a person contracting the disease.

Mesothelioma treatment can include a variety of options such as immunology, chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. It has been shown that a combination of more than one treatment is usually more effective than a single approach.

A mesothelioma prognosis can help specialists pinpoint which treatments might be optimal and can also be a factor in legal claims for the disease. Claims can often amount to tens of millions of dollars.

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