Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma

Sarcomatoid mesothelioma is the rarest of the three mesothelioma cell types. It’s the most aggressive cell type and hardest to treat, but therapies like chemotherapy and immunotherapy show promise in improving survival for patients. We can help sarcomatoid mesothelioma patients find top doctors and treatments.

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Written and Fact-Checked by: Lung Cancer Group

Last updated: July 26, 2024

Top Topics:

Causes
Diagnosis
Prognosis
Treatments

What Is Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma?

Sarcomatoid mesothelioma is the least common and most aggressive mesothelioma cell type. It develops decades after asbestos exposure.

Sarcomatoid mesothelioma cells are spindle-shaped, so they don’t stick together as easily and can spread quickly through the body.

This makes sarcomatoid mesothelioma harder to treat than the other cell types (epithelioid and biphasic). However, it may be possible to achieve long-term survival with the right treatment plan.

Quick Facts on Sarcomatoid Malignant Mesothelioma

Sarcomatoid mesothelioma can develop in the lining of the lungs, heart, abdomen, or testes.
It accounts for 10-20% of all mesothelioma cases.
The average life expectancy is 4 months, and the 2-year survival rate is 15%.
Long-term survival of several years may be possible with treatments like immunotherapy and chemotherapy.

If you or a loved one has mesothelioma, we can help you find top doctors in your area so you can get treatments to live longer. We can also explain your compensation options, which may allow you to afford the medical care you need.

Speak with our mesothelioma nurses for free now, if eligible, to get started.

Causes of Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma

The only known cause of sarcomatoid malignant mesothelioma is asbestos exposure. Asbestos is a fiber-like substance once found in many products, like drywall, gaskets and insulation. If you or a loved one handled these products, asbestos fibers could have been released into the air.

Did You Know?

Breathing in or swallowing asbestos fibers can cause them to become trapped inside the body, where they damage healthy cells and lead to any type of mesothelioma 10-50 years later.

On-the-job asbestos exposure put millions of people in danger of developing sarcomatoid mesothelioma. Secondhand exposure (when workers unknowingly brought asbestos fibers home on their clothing, hair, or skin) indirectly put family members at risk of mesothelioma, too.

Mesothelioma Sarcomatoid Symptoms

Symptoms of sarcomatoid mesothelioma vary depending on where the cancer develops and how far it has spread.

Most cases form in the lining of the lungs (pleura). Sarcomatoid pleural mesothelioma patients often have breathing-related symptoms, like coughing and chest pain.

In sarcomatoid peritoneal mesothelioma, the cells are in the abdominal lining (peritoneum), and patients develop symptoms like bloating, weight loss, and bowel problems.

General symptoms of sarcomatoid mesothelioma may include:

Blood in vomit or feces
Chest pain
Coughing
Fatigue
Fluid buildup in the lung or abdominal lining
Night sweats
Shortness of breath
Shoulder or upper back pain
Weight loss

In the early stages of sarcomatoid mesothelioma, patients often have few or no symptoms. Many patients only develop noticeable symptoms after the cancer has spread and reached the later stages.

Sarcomatoid mesothelioma symptoms take 10-50 years to develop after asbestos exposure. If you or a loved one was exposed to asbestos and now have possible symptoms, see a doctor as soon as possible to get diagnosed and treated.

Call (877) 446-5767 now if you’re experiencing sarcomatoid mesothelioma symptoms. Our mesothelioma nurses can help find top doctors near you.

How to Diagnose Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma

To make a sarcomatoid mesothelioma diagnosis, doctors start by evaluating symptoms and taking a patient’s health history into account. This includes any potential asbestos exposure.

If they think a patient may have cancer, they’ll use imaging tests to look inside the body for potential tumors or other causes of symptoms.

Imaging tests include:

CT scans
MRI scans
PET scans
X-rays

Doctors may also order blood tests to detect biomarkers like cytokeratin and calretinin, which are substances that could mean mesothelioma is present. These tests help tell sarcomatoid mesothelioma apart from other illnesses.

If cancer is suspected, doctors may recommend a biopsy, which involves taking a fluid or tissue sample so a pathologist can examine it under a microscope. This is the only definitive way to diagnose sarcomatoid mesothelioma.

Pathologists use techniques like immunohistochemistry staining to correctly identify the cells during a biopsy.

Misdiagnosis of Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma

Cases of sarcomatoid mesothelioma could be misdiagnosed without proper care because the cancer is so rare and shares symptoms with many more common conditions.

Misdiagnosing mesothelioma can lead to negative outcomes since the cancer won’t get properly treated.

Sarcomatoid mesothelioma misdiagnoses include:

Carcinoma
Lung sarcoma
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Pleurisy (inflammation of the lung lining)
Tuberculosis

Doctors could also misdiagnose biphasic mesothelioma (in which cells contain both epithelial and sarcomatoid cells) as sarcomatoid mesothelioma. This is because if more sarcomatoid cells are present, a biopsy sample may have very few or no epithelioid cells visible.

Get in touch with our mesothelioma nurses to figure out your options if you believe a misdiagnosis may have occurred.

Diagnosing Subtypes of Sarcomatoid Mesothelial Cells

Doctors may determine that you have a rare subtype of sarcomatoid mesothelioma based on the results of your pathology report.

Mesothelioma sarcomatoid subtypes include:

Desmoplastic mesothelioma: This subtype makes up 5-10% of pleural mesothelioma cases. Desmoplastic cells have an atypical, spindle shape and dense fiber-like stroma (connective tissue) when seen under a microscope. Desmoplastic mesothelioma has a very poor prognosis (health outlook).
Lymphohistiocytoid mesothelioma: Accounting for between 1-3% of mesothelioma cases, this subtype must be distinguished from other cancers like non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in order to be properly treated.
Transitional mesothelioma: This subtype develops in sheets of round cells. They don’t have the hallmark appearances of either epithelial or sarcomatoid cells, but are genetically more similar to the latter, according to a report from Translational Lung Cancer Research.

Doctors can recommend the best treatments for which sarcomatoid mesothelioma subtype you have, if any, based on the specifics of your case.

Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma Prognosis

The prognosis for sarcomatoid mesothelioma is less than favorable compared to the other cell types, since these cells spread the fastest and are resistant to many treatments. Generally speaking, sarcomatoid mesothelioma patients only live a few months after diagnosis.

That said, every patient is different and factors like stage, cancer location, and a patient’s overall health can impact a sarcomatoid mesothelioma prognosis. Some patients may live for much longer than expected with medical care.

Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma Life Expectancy

The life expectancy for sarcomatoid mesothelioma patients is only 4 months, the worst of any cell type. However, your mesothelioma life expectancy depends on how advanced your cancer is and how it responds to treatments.

For example, a 2023 report published in Diagnostic Pathology found that a pleural sarcomatoid mesothelioma patient lived for 33 months, or nearly 3 years, after his first reported symptoms.

Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma Survival Rate

Mesothelioma survival rate is the percentage of patients still alive after a set number of years.

Here are notable sarcomatoid mesothelioma survival rates with surgery:

2-year survival rate: 15%
5-survival rate: 4%

The survival rates of sarcomatoid mesothelioma are lower when compared to those of epithelial and biphasic mesothelioma. Still, you could outlive the typical survival rates if your cancer responds well to treatment.

Contact our team now to speak with nurses who can recommend treatments that may improve your sarcomatoid mesothelioma survival rate and life expectancy.

Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma Treatment

Doctors can use many different sarcomatoid mesothelioma treatment options to help you live longer with this cancer. Learn about commonly used treatment options below.

Chemotherapy

Mesothelioma chemotherapy involves using anti-cancer drugs like pemetrexed, carboplatin, and cisplatin to destroy tumor cells.

A 2021 study published in Scientific Reports found that sarcomatoid mesothelioma patients lived for 10.7 months on average when treated with chemotherapy.

Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy drugs boost the immune system’s ability to fight mesothelioma.

The breakthrough CheckMate-743 study found that the immunotherapy drugs Opdivo® (nivolumab) and Yervoy® (ipilimumab) helped patients with sarcomatoid or biphasic mesothelioma live for 18.1 months on average, much longer than those treated with chemotherapy.

“The combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab was found to be effective for sarcomatoid mesothelioma, and it was really a game changer. It’s the first sort of hope we’ve had for this more aggressive disease.”

— Dr. Andrea Wolf, mesothelioma specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses X-rays to shrink sarcomatoid tumors and prevent their spread. This therapy can enhance survival rates when combined with other treatments.

Mesothelioma Surgery

Surgery involves removing mesothelioma tumors and some of the healthy surrounding tissue. However, surgery for sarcomatoid mesothelioma is typically used only after other treatments given the cancer’s ability to spread so easily.

“It’s very, very, very rare that sarcomatoid mesothelioma patients come to surgery because this type is so aggressive. If a sarcomatoid patient has a good response to systemic therapy like chemotherapy, then we can offer surgery.”

— Dr. Deepa Magge, mesothelioma specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Palliative Treatments

Palliative care focuses on relieving symptoms of sarcomatoid mesothelioma and improving quality of life. Low doses of chemotherapy and minor surgeries can help manage pain, slow tumor growth, and improve breathing.

Emerging Treatments

Doctors continue to study new treatments for sarcomatoid mesothelioma in clinical trials.

In the recent ATOMIC-Meso trial, patients with sarcomatoid or biphasic mesothelioma received a targeted therapy called pegargiminase along with chemotherapy. These patients lived for 9.3 months on average, and the cancer stopped growing for 6.2 months on average thanks to this treatment.

Connect with our registered nurses now to get help finding the best sarcomatoid mesothelioma doctors and treatments for your case.

Compensation Options for Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with sarcomatoid mesothelioma, there are options for seeking compensation to help cover medical expenses, reimburse lost wages, and provide financial support for families.

You can pursue mesothelioma compensation through:

Mesothelioma lawsuits: These legal claims award $1 million or more, with first payouts often arriving in 90 days or less.
Asbestos trust fund claims: Trust funds contain over $30 billion and allow asbestos victims to seek compensation without going to court.
VA benefits: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awards a wide range of benefits to veterans with mesothelioma, including compensation worth nearly $4,000 a month in many cases, and free or low-cost medical care.

Contact us now to learn if you may qualify for compensation after a sarcomatoid mesothelioma diagnosis. Our team can determine your eligibility and help you quickly get a payout.

Get Help After a Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma Diagnosis

Receiving a sarcomatoid mesothelioma diagnosis can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to go through it alone.

The entire Lung Cancer Group team is here to assist you and your family after a sarcomatoid mesothelioma diagnosis.

Work with us to:

Better understand your diagnosis
Find top treatments and doctors near you
Get advice from our caring and dedicated nurses
Seek compensation to help cover your expenses

Call (877) 446-5767 or connect with our registered mesothelioma nurses now. Our team is ready to assist you every step of the way.

Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma FAQs

What is the life expectancy of someone with sarcomatoid mesothelioma?

The average life expectancy for sarcomatoid mesothelioma is about 4 months.

That said, how long you’ll live varies depending on factors like:

Available treatments
Mesothelioma stage at time of diagnosis
Where the cancer develops in your body

In some cases, sarcomatoid mesothelioma patients have greatly outlived the average life expectancy thanks to the right treatment plan.

What is sarcomatoid mesothelioma stage 4 like?

There are four stages of pleural sarcomatoid mesothelioma, with the fourth stage being the most advanced.

In cases of stage 4 sarcomatoid mesothelioma, patients have very noticeable symptoms like coughing up blood, difficulty breathing, and weight loss.

This stage is also the most difficult to treat because it has spread through the body to the bones, liver, brain, or other areas. Still, doctors can recommend therapies that may ease your symptoms and possibly allow you to live longer.

Has anyone ever recovered from mesothelioma?

Complete recovery from cases of sarcomatoid mesothelioma is rare. That said, you may be able to achieve long-term remission (where cancer signs reduce or disappear) depending on how your body responds to treatments.

Some patients have lived for several years or more after a sarcomatoid mesothelioma diagnosis thanks to their treatment plan.

Get in touch with our mesothelioma nurses to find treatments that could help you live longer with sarcomatoid mesothelioma.