Mesothelioma Prognosis

A brief on Mesothelioma
A whopping 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma is on the rise in United States of America. Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer and it is an aftereffect of the asbestos exposure. The cancerous cells tend to destroy the mesothelium, which is a protective sac that holds the internal organs of the body. Initially, pleura or peritoneum are affected and then it spreads to the other parts of the body. It is a fatal disease and the survival time of the victim is almost one year from the time of diagnosis depending on the treatment and other contributing factors.

What is mesothelioma prognosis?
Prognosis for mesothelioma is solely dependent on the merit of diagnosis and the treatment. If treatment is provided with much delay then the survival chance of the victim grows slimmer. Then again, survivability depends heavily on factors like treatment, type of mesothelioma as well as patients health and morale. The stage of the disease during diagnosis is the most crucial factor that decides the prognosis and the minimum survival expectancy of the victim. But disappointingly, mesothelioma unlike other cancers is somewhat difficult to stage. This is because the symptoms of mesothelioma are non-specific due to which the cells are already matured at the time of diagnosis.

What are the determining factors that lead to prognosis?
The early detection of the disease is imperative for pursuing any kind of treatment. The location and size of the cancer, response of the cancer to the treatment, the extent to which the cancer has spread, what impression does the cells give under the microscope and the patients age are some of the contributing factors that determine prognosis. It should be pointed out that diagnosis of the disease is not a child’s play. Further more it becomes all the very more difficult because of the deceptive nature of the subtle symptoms of mesothelioma. Like for example, if you are coughing and you might never know that you have contracted the disease unless and until your doctor clarifies it all by providing a mesothelioma prognosis.

Do you know about the mesothelioma treatment options?
Amongst the staging systems the oldest of them all is the Butchart system, based on the extent of mass, primary tumor and segregates the cancer into four stages. The TNM system is a more recent one while the Brigham system is the latest. It uses resectability and lymph node involvement for staging mesothelioma. The traditional kinds of treatments are also prevalent in case of malignant mesothelioma. Radiation therapy exercises high-energy X-rays to eradicate cancer cells while chemotherapy does it through use of drugs. Immunotherapy helps to strengthen the immune system; photodynamic therapy uses light energy while the genetic therapy resurrects the inherent genetic defects of the patient to fight the disease.

The process of removing fluid from the chest is known as thoracentesis while fluid reduction from the abdomen is known as paracentesis. Conventional surgeries and effective drugs like L-NDDP or Platar, Endostatin and Lovastatin somewhat come to the rescue of the victims of mesothelioma. The surgical removal of a part of the chest or the abdominal lining is called pleurectomy and if the lung is removed, then the operation will be termed as pneumonectomy.

Summary:
Prognosis for mesothelioma is solely dependent on the merit of diagnosis and the treatment. If treatment is provided with much delay then the survival chance of the victim grows slimmer.

Mesothelioma

Tragically the word mesothelioma is becoming more and more well known, the mere mention of it striking fear into all of us for we know that it is associated with death. Asbestos is the reaper, mesothelioma its hand maiden.

Asbestos, the wonder product of the fifties is now recognized as an enemy of the twentieth century. A ruthless enemy which will kill more people than the war. Men, women and children will fall victim to its prey, innocents who have at some time in their lives inhaled asbestos dust.

Most of us have been in contact with products containing asbestos in our life times. We sat in asbestos class rooms, stood beside our fathers as they cut asbestos fencing, pulled up old linoleum with asbestos clogged to the back of it. Visited the local tip where broken sheets of it lay open to the wind.

Records show that there are a higher number of people afflicted with asbestosis and mesothelioma who have directly worked in asbestos mines, ship yards and companies making products from asbestos; however there are a large number of people afflicted, who have never worked in these industries. Their contact with asbestos, due to the dust brought home on their husband’s clothes or from the asbestos tailings placed around mine houses and town perimeters. But the tragedy does not end there, children innocently playing in their own back yards played amongst the asbestos tailings as children elsewhere play in the sand. They had no way of knowing that their sand was asbestos blue. A good bath at the end of the day may have removed the dust from the skin but the dust in the lungs remained and would lay dormant for many years before claiming its deadly legacy.

Without warning, a healthy individual suddenly becomes short of breath, x-rays reveal fluid on the lungs and the night mare begins. Questions are asked and you answer, Yes, I was exposed to asbestos dust but I was only in the town for a few short months and that was over 40 years ago. How can this be? This is the most perplexing thing about mesothelioma. Why is there such a long period of time between inhalation of asbestos dust and onset of the disease? What triggers a strong healthy body to suddenly succumb to it? What can we do to prevent this from happening?

Blood tests are now available to determine whether mesothelioma is present in the body, before a person is aware of any symptoms. This is an amazing breakthrough and perhaps the first step towards curing the disease before it becomes terminal. Recently mesothelioma was cured in a mouse and attempts to give it back to the mouse were unsuccessful. This too is exciting stuff and holds a glimmer of hope for us all.

I have witnessed first hand the devastation of mesothelioma. My husband was a strong and virile man who rarely had a sick day in his life. Suddenly at the age of 52 he became short of breath and was subsequently diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. He had lived in the asbestos mining town of Wittenoom in Western Australia for a few short months at the age of seven. The asbestos dust he inhaled then, took forty five years to become lethal. I still find this hard to believe.

Despite his prognosis of three to nine months, Brian survived for two years. He was 54 years old when he died.