Stages of Mesothelioma: An Overview
What are the different stages of mesothelioma? What occurs inside the body during each stage? Can one detect what stage of mesothelioma one is in?
Mesothelioma is a deadly disease. This is because doctors cannot immediately determine or see its symptoms.
In this post, we share with you the stages of mesothelioma and what happens during each stage.
The stages of mesothelioma describe the size of tumor in the body. Additionally, each stageis determined by how far the tumors have spread around the body. More importantly, the location and size of the tumors have a direct impact on the patient’s symptoms.
Let's dive into the stages of mesothelioma.
Specifically for pleural mesothelioma, the stages of pleural mesothelioma are:
- 1st Stage: During the first stage, there is early tumor growth that occurs along the mesothelial lining of one lung. The cancer is starting at this stage. However, doctors are unable to detect its symptoms at this stage.
- 2nd Stage: The cancer cells have spread to nearby lymph nodes around the body.
- 3rd Stage: During the 3rd stage, the tumors have invaded deeper tissues. They usually affect the nearby organs and distant lymph nodes.
- 4th Stage: Metastasis is present during the fourth stage. Also, the tumors have now formed and affected the distant sites in the body.
Can You Determine What Stage of Mesothelioma You Are In?
A lot of people often ask and wonder whether they can determine their mesothelioma stage based on their symptoms or not.
The bad news, unfortunately, is that the symptoms of mesothelioma are not strongly related with individual cancer stages. This means, it is difficult to determine which stage of the cancer you are in by merely looking at your symptoms.
Additionally, because this type of cancer's symptoms are so hard to detect, mesothelioma diagnosis does not occur until the late stages. During the early stages, there is typically zero to mild symptoms that usually go unnoticed.
Related: Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer
Stages of Pleural Mesothelioma
Now, let's dive into each stage of pleural mesothelioma.
Doctors and physicians use four different stages of mesothelioma to describe the spread of the tumors.
Each stage of mesothelioma shows how far the tumor has spread from where it first originated. These stages are also referred to as early or advanced. Stages 1 and 2 are considered as early stage mesothelioma, while stages 3-4 are considered as advanced.
Stage 1 Pleural Mesothelioma
During stage 1 of pleural mesothelioma, the tumor is limited to just one lining of the lung. However, it can also spread from the outer lining to the inner lining of the lung.
It is difficult for doctors to diagnose patients who are still in stage 1 of mesothelioma. This is because physicians and doctors are unable to detect its symptoms in this early stage.
However, stage 1 tumors are more responsive to curative treatment. These types of treatment include surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy. This is because the tumor is still constricted in one area.
Stage 2 Pleural Mesothelioma
In the second stage of mesothelioma, the tumor still occurs in the lining of the lung. However, at this point, the cancer cells may have already spread to the walls of other organs of the patient. These can include the chest, diaphragm, or the lung itself.
At the second stage of mesothelioma, patients can still be eligible for treatments to help extend their life expectancy.
Stage 3 Pleural Mesothelioma
During this third stage of mesothelioma, the tumor has become more widespread.
It is possible that the tumor has spread throughout one side of the body. Additionally, the tumor has most likely spread to and invaded at least one—or all—of the following organs: lungs, the diaphragm, and the protective lining of the heart.
Stage 4 Pleural Mesothelioma
The last stage of mesothelioma is stage 4. During this stage, the growth of the tumor has spread far beyond the lining of one lung. The cancer cells and secondary tumors may now be found in larger sections of the chest wall. Additionally, they have now also spread to the diaphragm, lining of the heart, and lymph nodes.
During this stage, the life expectancy of patients are usually 12 months or less. Additionally, because of the widespread of the tumor and cancer cells, patients are not eligible for traditional treatments anymore.
Instead, doctors give patients palliative treatments to ease the pain.
Stages of Mesothelioma: How Doctors Determine Each Stage
So how are the stages of mesothelioma determined based on a patient's symptom?
Doctors use diagnostic imaging tests. These tests help them to visually confirm how far mesothelioma has spread.
These scans show doctors the visual information on the growth and spread of a tumor. It is from these scans that doctors are able to determine the cancer stage of the mesothelioma.
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