Advanced Mesothelioma Prognosis

The Mesothelioma Prognosis disease has among the lowest five year survivability rates among different cancers and remains extraordinarily difficult to treat. While research is ongoing and our knowledge of the disease is definitely increasing faster than it ever has, doctors know an actual cure is still years away.

Advanced Mesothelioma Prognosis
By Peter Kingston

There are a variety of details in the advancement of a person’s mesothelioma prognosis and fine differences amongst these details may have a dramatic impact on the course the disease will take. The statistical models employed in mesothelioma often miss the extraordinary differences between a person’s stated prognosis/diagnosis and the way in which the disease actually impacts his or her life.

Photo: emesotheliomainformation.com

Stage is important for determining mesothelioma prognosis because it can be for other cancers. However, mesothelioma stats are hard to find, and the stats that exist are unreliable. Early diagnosis and remedy are a lot of important in looking for a favorable mesothelioma prognosis. Since mesothelioma is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, the statistics for you to five year survival are usually unreliable. At Stage IV, mesothelioma has spread to other organs, and since a cure is not possible, the mesothelioma prognosis is poor. Remedy at this stage consists mainly of pain management and supportive care.

The latency period with this disease is usually 10 to 30 years, and symptoms include breathing difficulties and a decrease in the elasticity of the lungs. Effusions, both pleural and peritoneal, represent major symptomatic problems for at least two thirds of the patients. Unfortunately, the duration of symptom control is short-lived. Single agent and combined chemotherapy have reported higher response rates in STAGE II patients, however the toxicity reported is also higher and there is no evidence which combination treatments cause longer survival or longer control of the symptoms.

Diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma begins with a thorough medical history to document the patient’s symptoms and any conceivable asbestos exposure, followed by a complete physical examination. These steps are generally followed by a chest or abdominal x-ray, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. The symptoms of mesothelioma are similar to other lung diseases and cancers.

The severity of the affliction varies from person to person, but in most cases the onset of Pleural Mesothelioma is usually very slow with the alot of frequent presenting symptom being persistent pain localized in the chest. Sometimes the pain is accompanied by severe difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath. The advancement of asbestosis symptoms including coughing, breathlessness and chest pain typically prompts a sufferer to seek medical attention. Following an initial physical assessment of the patient, a physician will employ the use of a chest imaging scan (x-ray, MRI, CT scan) thus as to view the lungs.

Mesothelioma patients have such common symptoms which the MD can not even consider the illness to be asbestos-related let alone malignant mesothelioma. This is a symptom that develops in the later stages of the disease. However, it is critical to note which these tumors are able to spread to various parts of the body, affecting various organs. Surgery, while used successfully for palliative control of symptoms, has only minimal effect on median survival times whenever used because a radical treatment. Extra pleural pneumonectomy, defined as a “radical treatment” is associated with a median survival of 15-24 months.

Typically, mesothelioma takes 10 to 50 years to develop, and during this latency period, sufferers may have no symptoms. Furthermore, mesothelioma happens more often in men than in patient and risk increases with age. Pleurectomy/decortication can be performed to relieve symptoms in pleural mesothelioma. Other procedures such as thoracentesis may be performed to drain pleural effusions and prevent them from recurring. Other symptoms include hoarseness, coughing up blood, swelling of the face and arms, muscle weakness, and sensory loss.

Learn more about Mesothelioma and Asbestos related disease here Asbestos Related Disease and also here Mesothelioma Prognosis.