Mesothelioma

Everything About Mesothelioma

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Tuesday 14 April 2015

Treating Mesothelioma

  23:03    

Mesothelioma Treatment


If there’s one thing we know about mesothelioma treatment, it’s this: we continue to be challenged to find the most effective way of treating the disease.

Conventional ways for treating mesothelioma involve surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.


As with most solid tumors, doctors turn to surgery, radiation and chemotherapy to manage mesothelioma. When exploring the various treatment options available with your doctor it is important to be informed about the risk and benefits of each one before making a final diagnosis.

Surgery

Only about 1 in 5 patients with metastatic pleural mesothelioma undergo surgery. There are two main surgeries: pleurectomy/decortication, in which the surgeon tries to remove as much of the tumor from around the lung as possible, and the more radical extrapleural pneumonectomy, in which the lung itself is removed.


Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, also known as systemic therapy, uses oral or infusion-based medications to kill cancer cells throughout your body. Chemotherapy is used both before and after surgery, as well as in people who do not undergo surgery. Though not curative, it has a proven survival benefit. It is also used in the palliative setting to reduce pain and improve quality of life.


Radiation

Radiation can be an important part of mesothelioma treatment. The problem is that because the cancer is near the heart and lungs, it’s challenging to provide the kind of high-dose, intensive therapy needed to shrink the tumor. However, a newer option, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), which can more accurately target cancer cells and avoid healthy tissue, may provide better results when performed by experienced clinicians.

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Thursday 31 July 2014

Mesothelioma Litigation

  14:23    

Most people who develop mesothelioma were exposed to toxic asbestos while on the job. In order to pay for the cost of treatment and other damages, patients and families file lawsuits against manufacturers.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive form of cancer that affects predominantly the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma) or abdomen (peritoneal mesothelioma). Most cases of the disease are caused by excessive exposure to a carcinogenic mineral fiber called asbestos–exposure that in most cases was preventable.

Anyone who developed an asbestos-related disease because of exposure – particularly because of occupational exposure – has legitimate grounds to consider a mesothelioma litigation against the manufacturers of asbestos products related to the exposure.

The dangers of asbestos to human health were known for decades by manufacturers and others in the asbestos industry, yet those dangers were not publicized. That failure led to a massive U.S. asbestos tort, one that permits people who develop mesothelioma to file lawsuits in the hope of being compensated for getting a cancer that never should have happened.


Starting in the 1960s, companies that manufactured asbestos products and those that permitted their installation were hit with thousands of mesothelioma lawsuits from employees, consumers and families. Time and again, juries found that asbestos companies acted “with malice” by covering up the dangers of asbestos.

Not surprisingly, people diagnosed with mesothelioma often begin litigation against these negligent companies to compensate them and their families for mounting medical bills, pain, suffering and loss of quality of life.

Should You File a Mesothelioma Lawsuit?

 Many people diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease – mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer or asbestosis, to name three – have legal options to help pay for medical treatment and to compensate for pain and suffering. Because there is often a time limit to initiate any legal action, it is important to speak with a mesothelioma lawyer who can help you pursue any possible claims as soon as possible. An experienced lawyer can help hold asbestos manufacturers accountable for their negligence and walk you through the complex legal process.

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3 Main Pleural Mesothelioma Life Expectancy Prognostic Factors

  14:15    

Below are the 3 main factors which for a Pleural Mesothelioma Life Expectancy Prognosis;

Age

While the mesothelioma prognostic factor of age is likely to be most closely tied to overall patient health, extent of the disease, and eligibility for aggressive treatment than the actual age of the patient, it is nevertheless important as doctors attempt to formulate a treatment protocol for each individual. In a study of 167 mesothelioma patients, those diagnosed at the age of the 65 years and younger had a median life expectancy of 359 days. Those diagnosed between the ages of 65 and 74 years had a medial survival period of 242 days. Patients over the age of 75 diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma had a median life expectancy of 112 days.


Stage

Stage of the disease allows for a much clearer timetable to be associated with pleural mesothelioma life expectancy. Patients diagnosed with earlier stage disease are less inhibited by the malignancy’s effect on body function and are therefore assigned much more encouraging prognoses. By the time the disease reaches stage 3 and 4, it has progressed beyond the point of origin and other factors begin to affect patient timetables. In the same study of 167 mesothelioma patients, those diagnosed with stage one mesothelioma were given a median life expectancy of 359 days. Patients diagnosed with stage two mesothelioma were given a median life expectancy of 142 days. Patients diagnosed with stage three and four mesothelioma were given a median life expectancy of 112 days.


Types of Mesothelioma

There are three recognized types of mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma, which occurs in the lining of the lungs, is the most common and accounts for approximately 80% of all diagnoses. Peritoneal mesothelioma, occurring in the abdominal lining, and Pericardial mesothelioma, occurring in the heart’s lining, are other forms of the disease. Life expectancy with each type is poor. Pleural mesothelioma, because it is more common, is generally considered to offer a more favorable prognosis.

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What is the Pleural Mesothelioma Life Expectancy?

  14:04    

Pleural Mesothelioma Life Expectancy varies greatly from patient to patient based on a number of individual factors and circumstances. In general, life expectancy for patients diagnosed with mesothelioma is poor. Mesothelioma tumor is an aggressive malignancy for which symptoms typically will not manifest until the cancer reaches its later stages. While treatment is available for most patients, doctors and cancer specialists will typically reserve aggressive therapies for those patients whose life expectancy is truly anticipated to be extended through these methods.


While pleural mesothelioma life expectancy is innately tied to prognostic and histopathological factors, a patient’s eligibility to undergo aggressive treatment is also tied to his/her ability to manage the side effects associated with these therapies. In many cases, patients who integrate holistic therapy and alternative methods of cancer treatment into traditional therapy regimens have lived far longer than their original prognosis dictated.


What is encouraging is that pleural mesothelioma life expectancy has steadily increased in recent years as a result of more funding being dedicated for mesothelioma research and scholarship among the world’s major cancer centers and higher education institutions. However, historical data with a less encouraging outlook helps to identify those factors that are most likely to affect the mesothelioma prognosis. See the number of factors that contribute to an educated assessment of mesothelioma life expectancy HERE.

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What is Mesothelioma?

  13:55    


A Mesothelioma tumor most commonly develops in the lungs of people exposed to asbestos. Effective treatments are available to ease symptoms of Mesothelioma and improve your prognosis.
The tissue that lines your lungs, stomach, heart, and other organs is called mesothelium. Mesothelioma is a tumor of that tissue. It usually starts in the lungs, but can also start in the abdomen or other organs. It can be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer.)


The Cancer usually affects the thin, protective membrane surrounding the lungs, heart or abdominal cavity. Doctors diagnose an estimated 3,000 cases a year in the United States, and the majority of those are traced to job-related asbestos exposure.

Malignant mesothelioma is a rare but serious type of cancer. Most people who get it have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles. After being exposed to asbestos, it usually takes a long time for the disease to form.


Although asbestos use declined dramatically in recent decades in this country, the incidence of mesothelioma remains steady. That difference can be traced to the distinct latency period linked to the cancer. The disease can take anywhere from 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos before it shows obvious symptoms and an oncologist can make a definitive diagnosis. 


While no cure for the disease exists and the prognosis is typically poor, researchers made significant progress in recent years in understanding the cancer and developing new treatment options and alternative therapies.

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