[Malignant pleural mesothelioma. From diagnosis to prognosis].

EPIDEMIOLOGY

The incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma has constantly increased over the past forty years. The recent measures of ban on the use of asbestos and the long latency of this tumor after exposure means that its peak incidence can be foreseen for the years 2010-2020.

DIAGNOSIS

Various health professionals are involved in the care of this tumor, which benefits equally from progresses in clinical and fundamental research. Some progress has been made in understanding its oncogenesis as well as its histopathologic analysis.

PROGNOSIS

Malignant pleural mesothelioma symptoms are rapidly invalidating and the patient's prognosis is bad at short-term. However, hope may come from the detection of early stages of the disease and from the individualization of good prognosis factors, permitting the selection of patients for whom some curative therapies are in course of evaluation.