Despite recent diagnostic and therapeutic advances the prognosis of
malignant pleural mesothelioma remains extremely poor. We reviewed the role of some
classic (i.e. age, gender, histology, staging) and novel clinical (i.e. occult residual
disease, quality of life and fluorodeoxyglucose uptake at positron emission tomography)
prognosticators. Many biological and genetic machineries have been lately related with
the etiology and the natural history of mesothelioma. These new factors might have a
significant function in predicting the prognosis of the disease and in the next future they
could reveal an important role for targeted therapies.
Keywords: Genetics, prognostic factors, staging, thoracic surgery.
