MESOTHELIOMA TREATMENT

Medication and treatment program for mesothelioma depends on many factors including the stage of the cancer, where the cancer is, how far the cancer spread, how the cancer cells look under tyhe microscope, the patient's age and desires, does the patient has any other sickness or cancer, patient's stability and condition mental and physical.

People diagnosed with this disease are often told the expected survival rate is only eight to twelve months. However, specialist in treating malignant mesothelioma at the leading cancer centers often have better statistics. Some modern medical treatment patients have more than one year survival. Keeping track of your medical treatment is useful and a personel medical records file can help.

There are traditional kinds of treatment for patients with malignant mesothelioma such as:

Surgery - taking out the cancer

Chemotherapy - using drugs to fight the cancer

Radiation Therapy - using high dose x ray or other high energy rays to kill cancer cells.

Often two or more of these are combined in the course of treatment depends on the result and patients conditions.

MESOTHELIOMA DIAGNOSING

Diagnosing mesothelioma is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. Diagnosis begins with a review of the patient's medical hostory. A history of exposure to asbestos may increase clinical suspicion for mesothelioma. Some hospitals will perform a physical examination, chest x-ray and lung functions test. The x-ray may reveals plueral thickening commonly seen after asbestos exposure and increase suspicion of mesothelioma. CT scan or MRI is performed and if a large amount of fluid is present, abnormal cells may be detected by sytology if this fluid is aspirated with syringe. For pleural fluid, this is done by a pleural tap or chest drain, in ascities with an paracentesis or ascitic drain and in a pericardial effusion with pericardiocentesis. While absense of malignant cells on cytology does not completely exclude mesothelioma, it makes it much more unlikely, especially if an alternative diagnosis can be made such as tuberculosis or heart failure.

BASIC ABOUT MESOTHELIOMA

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos. It is due to the malignant cells develop in the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the body's internal organs. It's most sommon site is the pluera which is the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall, but it may also occur in the peritoneum ( the lining of the abdominal cavity), the heart, the pericardium ( a sac that surrounds the heart) or tunica vaginalis.

Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or they have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in ither ways. It has also been suggested that washing the clothes of the family member who worked with the asbestos can put a person at risk for developing mesothelioma. Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking, but smoking greatly can increase risk of other asbestos-induced cancer. Compesation via sabestos funds or lawsuits is an important issue in mesothelioma.

The symptoms of mesothelioma include shortness of breath due to pleural effucion (fluid between the lung and the chest wall) or chest wall pain and general symptoms such as weight loss. The diagnosis may be suspected with chest x-ray and CT scan, and is confirmed with a biopsy (tissue sample) and microoscopic examination. A thoracoscopy (inserting a tube with a camera into the chest) can be used to take biopsies. It allows the introduction of substamces such as tale to obliterate the pleural space ( called pleurodesis) which prevents more fluid from accumulating and pressing on the lung. Despite treatment with cemotherapy, radiation therapy or sometimes surgery, mesothelioma carries a poor prognosis. Research about screening tests for the early detection of mesothelioma is ongoing.