Treatment options for mesothelioma

Treatment of mesothelioma is very similar to other types of cancer. There are three treatment options available, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery. These treatments are normally conducted in combination to ensure the most effective treatment. Start with the operation. The operation can be performed on patients with mesothelioma aiming to enchance their quality of life and try to eliminate the disease.

The most common procedure is plurectomy. During a plurectomy, the mesothelium lining the patient's chest is removed away. A similar procedure known as extra pleural pneumonectomy involves removal of the lining of the chest, the pericardium, half of the diaphragm and lining of the lungs. Surgery alone is usually not the cure mesothelioma. However, when surgery is performed in combination with post-operative treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the chances of survival are much improved.

Time to chemotherapy. It is important to understand that chemotherapy alone can not handle mesothelioma. Chemotherapy is usually administered as tablets or injections. Mesothelioma patients may have drugs inject in the area where the disease is present. These two drugs that usually use with the patient is pemetrexed and cisplatin. These drugs are known to have a negative impact to trigger nausea and vomiting. And this is one of the main reasons why many people choose not to receive chemotherapy.

Finally, treatment by radiation is another option today. Radiation is a good choice for patients who are unable to cope with chemotherapy and surgery. Radiation only, like the two previous treatments can not remove the mesothelioma. Radiation is a kind of palliative treatment that reduces symptoms of mesothelioma. The majority of patients undergo external beam radiotherapy, which is given for several weeks. For maximum benefit, in some patients, treatments with all three of these options can raising the hope of being recovered.

How to diagnose mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the mesothelium. The mesothelium is a two-layer coating that surrounds internal organs in the chest and abdomen. It acts as a lubricant wall, and institutions in motion with minimum hassle. How does this cancer occur? The most common cause is the exposure to asbestos. You may have seen this in 60 minutes and other TV programs.

One of the biggest problem of mesothelioma is treatment. It is a bad form of cancer for two reasons. The first is the period of latency. 50 years may elapse before it begins to cause symptoms. At this stage it is often too late to do something. The second reason is that it is difficult to diagnose, the symptoms are similar to those of many other health problems and are less dramatic. In many cases, the disease is in fact initially diagnosed as something else. Only when the treatment options do not work, an accurate diagnosis was made.

So how do you diagnose mesothelioma? It usually starts with a chest radiograph. Lung function tests are then performed. No blood, because this form of cancer has no biomarkers. According to the result, the doctor may then also request a magnetic resonance imaging of an area of the body. Mesothelioma is difficult to find.

If there's a suspicious of mesothelioma, a biopsy will be ordered. There are different types of biopsies for different areas. The area in question is viewed and small samples will be taken. Samples will be sent to patholoist. Laboratory tests if cancer cells are present or not. Biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosing mesothelioma.

What are symptoms of mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma affects the body in different stages and most of these stages are relatively well hidden from the patient. Only in the later stages, the body begins to show symptoms. Some typical symptoms of mesothelioma are described in this article. People can develop pain in the chest and abdomen at any time. But most patients ignore the symptoms and continue their daily lives.

An obvious symptom of this disease is persistent cough, specifically dry cough. If most persons, cough always accompanied by sputum. However, in the form of dry cough, there is a marked absence of mucus. For this reason, persistent cough can cause diseases of the esophagus and this could lead to blood spitting. Once the area is a rough place, then the patient can be difficult to swallow food and other liquids. All these symptoms are interrelated and are often observed for pleural mesothelioma.

The pain in the neck prevented the food intake resulted in weight loss. Sometimes patients may be sweating in the night and this is also a symptom of the disease. Since the quantity of food intake is reduced, general fatigue and sleepiness occur coupled with the slowness. Since the state is known to affect the pleura, it may cause chest pain, especially on one side of the chest. This problem will lead to problems with breathing and shortness of breath.

Peritoneal Mesothelioma is another form of asbestos cancer, but affects the stomach and abdomen. The symptoms are the same, but there is a severe inflammation of the stomach. Digestive problems and anemia are symptoms of abdominal mesothelioma. Constipation also the result of peritoneal mesothelioma, and it could also lead to vomiting.

Mesothelioma can also occur in the pericardial sac around the heart. In this case, the symptoms of mesothelioma are: - irregular heart beat and skipping heartbeat. The patient can also pain on the left side of the chest, above the hearts. This chest pain can cause problem in breathing, as we have already seen in pleural mesothelioma. The condition may also develop on the testicles, although it is one of the rarest types of cancer from exposure to asbestos. The symptoms may begin occurring after an interval of 10 to 20 years. It is better to seek for a thorough physical examination so that we can be sure that you are not suffering from cancer caused by asbestos.

What is mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is a kind of cancer developed in the mesothelium, which is cell layer lining the internal organs of the human body. Most cases of mesothelioma is proven to be associated with exposure to asbestos, a natural material that is used in buildings and ships. Mesothelioma can occur in outer lining of the lung (pleural mesothelioma), the lining of the abdominal cavity (peritoneal mesothelioma) or cell layers lining the heart (pericardial mesothelioma)

Most mesothelioma patients have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber. They can even expose to the material indrectly by inhaled asbetos particles from family members working in the industry.

Symptoms of mesothelioma are dyspnea, chest pain when breathing, and other constitutional symptom such as anorexia and weight loss. Diagnosis is made by chest x-ray, CT scan and can be definitely diagnosed by biopsy of the pleura.

There are three treatment options currently used in mesothelioma patients. Surgery will be done to debulk most of the cancer cells from the body. Chemotherapy is used to eliminate the residual cancer cells. And radiotherapy will help prevent local recurrent and spreading.

Prognosis for mesothelioma is not good because mesothelioma is oftens diagnosed when the disease is in advanced stage. Early stage mesothelioma patient usually don't have strong signs and symptoms that urge physician to detect this deadly disease promtly. Rate of survival to 5 years after diagnosis may not exceed 10 percent.