Although there is no cure yet for this disease, much is known about the way it develops and progresses in patients who are unlucky enough to have been exposed to asbestos over a period of time in the work place, or through other exposure to friable asbestos. There are a number of mesothelioma stage progressions. There are two main staging systems in use for pleural mesothelioma. These are called the TNM system and the Brigham system. In the UK, the system that is mostly commonly used is the TNM system, which is broken down as follows:
Mesothelioma stage 1: Here the disease affects one the pleura only, although it may also have grown into the covering of the heart, and possibly also into the diaphragm.
Mesothelioma stage 2: By now, the cancer has spread to both layers of the pleura, but only on one side of the body.
Mesothelioma stage 3: At this stage, the condition is spreading rapidly, and may well have reached the oesophagus, the chest wall or the lymph nodes.
Mesothelioma stage 4: By the time this advanced stage has reached, the disease has spread through the bloodstream to other organs in the body. It may be affecting the liver, brain or bone.
The Brigham system takes a different view of the stages:
Mesothelioma stage 1: at this early stage the growths can be removed through surgery, and there are no lymph nodes containing cancer cells.
Mesothelioma stage 2: here the growths can still be removed through surgery, but cancer cells have been found in the lymph nodes.
Mesothelioma stage 3: By this stage, surgery is no longer effective because the disease has spread through to the chest wall, heart or other organs.
Mesothelioma stage 4: the disease has spread to other organs in the body such as the liver, brain or bone.
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