Usefulness of Staging

Staging helps doctors to decide which treatment will benefit at which stage of the cancer. However, certain other important things are also kept in considersation while determining the particular treatment for the particular stage of the mesothelioma these are: the ability to do everyday tasks, age of the patients, and overall health status of the patient if the patient can bear the stressful conditions of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The type of cells from which the mesothelioma has arised is an important factor deciding the treatment.

  1. Epithelioid cells response to treatment is the best. According the American Cancer Society, 50 to 70 percent of mesothelioma,s are of epithelioid in nature.
  2. Up to 20 percent of mesotheliomas are composed almost completely from the sarcomatoid cells. Sarcomatoid cells are quite aggressive cancers in nature and therefore are difficult to treat.
  3. The remainder of mesotheliomas are biphasic, and these are characterized by mixed elements, containing a mixture of both epithelioid and sarcomatoid cells.