(800) 369-0899
(215) 569-4000
Contact Us Today
A recent study by PLOS One, an Open Access Scientific Journal, has revealed there is surgery that can more than double the lifespan of patients suffering from malignant mesothelioma. A recent trend among oncologists has been to advise mesothelioma patients to opt out of surgery, but the PLOS one analysis of the Mount Sinai Medical staff highlights the benefits of surgery for people with mesothelioma.
Of the almost fifteen thousand patients included in the sample taken from 1973 to 2009 as part of the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database, only 23 percent of patients in the study chose to have surgery. According to researchers, who analyzed 14,228 mesothelioma patients throughout the United States, the median survival rate for patients who underwent surgery was 14.5 months while patients who did not choose to undergo surgery had only a 6.5-month median survival rate. Fifteen percent of patients who had surgery lived for up to five years, compared to one percent of patients with a five-year survivor rate who opted out of surgery.
The study concluded in December of last year and is larger than almost any other study of its kind. The SEER database sampled a wide variety of cancer patients who shared the same characteristics of a malignant mesothelioma tumor diagnosis. The surgeries in the database included total and partial resections, extrapleural pneumonectomies, pleurectomy/decortication and lobectomies. The study was adjusted so that age, sex and stage of disease did not skew the results.
Study data involved three out of four of the patients analyzed were male, the median age at diagnosis was 62, and more than half of the patients in the study were diagnosed with distant metastases. Additional study findings include that younger age, female gender, early stage and treatment with surgery are all predictors of longer survival. Moreover, patients who had surgery and underwent radiation treatment had similar survival rates as those patients who had surgery but did not undergo radiation treatment.
Malignant mesothelioma is a very serious form of cancer that occurs from exposure to asbestos. Oftentimes, exposure to asbestos is due to another person’s negligence such as an employer, building owner or government agency. If you, a loved one or someone you know has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, call our team of Philadelphia mesothelioma lawyers at Brookman, Rosenberg, Brown & Sandler right now. We will fight to make sure that you are rewarded with the highest compensation possible. To schedule a confidential consultation, call us today at 800-569-0899 or contact us online. We represent mesothelioma patients throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania.