Treatment Techniques And Alternatives Pertaining To Pericardial Mesothelioma

June 27th, 2010 | jones | Insomnia Cures

Of all of the asbestos related disease brought on by asbestos dust (mesothelioma), pericardial mesothelioma is the most uncommon, accounting for a small fraction of all cases (5%). It is a malignancy that grows on the pericardium (the lining with the heart). This is a delicate ‘film’, and any contamination on the pericardium can lead to fatal consequences.

As soon as an individual has been clinically determined to have pericardial mesothelioma they’re offered 3 various treatment choices. These are radiation, surgery and chemotherapy. Pericardial Mesothelioma is very hard to deal with (because of the complexity involved in removing the growths from the pericardium), and a person’s odds of survival are small. All 3 methods have a below average success rate mainly because of the fact that pericardial mesothelioma is diagnosed in the advanced phases of development. (The reason for this really is simply because in the early stages with the cancer the symptoms resemble those of diseases like pneumonia). The prospects for a patient undergoing treatment at this time (mature stage) is generally less than a 12 months.

Prior to treatment, the patient requires a physician’s assessment in order to determine which with the 3 treatments are suitable for him/her. Particulars such as age, bodyweight, health background, and basic well-being are taken into account prior to the start of treatment. So, how do youaddress pericardial mesothelioma ?

Radiation - Just like all cancer treatments that use this technique, big doses of radiation are used to destroy the cancerous tissue on the pericardium. The downside to radiation treatment is that not only are you killing the cancerous cells, but you are likewise damaging the vital internal organs in near proximity to the heart, namely the lungs. The heart furthermore gets weakened (because of the big doses of radiation).

Surgery - You can break this down into 2 parts; aggressive surgery and palliative procedures. Aggressive surgery entails the removal with the cancerous cell. As these are really close to the heart and lungs, this causes it to be an very precarious process and something that requires an very experienced surgeon.

Palliative procedures are used in the final of phases of pericardial mesothelioma and provide the only purpose of decreasing the symptoms. Usually at this stage the cancer is absolutely not curable.

Chemotherapy - This is the most widely used of cancer treatments which involves the usage of drugs to destroy the cancerous cells. Unfortunately, the majority of drugs used have a low success rate with pericardial mesothelioma. Research is becoming carried out to generate a cocktail of drugs that have a much more favorable outcome.

There does exist an additional type of treatment which involves using all 3 aforementioned treatment choices. It is known as Dual Therapy. Surgery is used to get rid of the cancerous cells, then chemotherapy and radiation are used to kill the residual cells. The success for this technique is higher than just using radiation, surgery or chemotherapy alone, but can still be dangerous.


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