Prognosis Statistics - Other factors
Other factors affecting prognosis
Prognosis Statistics - Survival rates
Prognosis Statistics - Other factors
Prognosis Statistics - Clinical trials
There are other factors that can affect your prognosis, apart from the stage of your cancer. One is how well you are overall. Doctors have a way of measuring this. They call it your 'performance status'. You may see this written PS. A score of 0 means you are completely able to look after yourself. A score of 1 means you can do most things for yourself, but need some help. The scores continue to go up, depending on how much help you need. This is relevant to survival because overall, the fitter people are, the better able they are to withstand their cancer and treatment.
Other factors include:
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The type of mesothelioma you have
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Your blood counts
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People with normal haemoglobin levels, and normal white blood cell and platelet counts, tend to do better. These tests are a measure of your overall health and the effect the disease is having on you.
How reliable are these statistics?
No statistics can tell you what will happen to you. Your cancer is unique. The same type of cancer can grow at different rates in different people for example.
The statistics are not detailed enough to tell you about the different treatments people may have had. And how that treatment may have affected their prognosis. Chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy may help people to live longer as well as relieving symptoms. There are many individual factors that will determine your treatment and prognosis. If you are fit enough to have treatment, you are likely to do better than average, particular if your cancer is more advanced.
