Article Surfing Archive

Description of mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is mainly caused due to contact with asbestos, which has zeolite. When inhaled, the asbestos fibers reach the pleural layer of our lungs and damages the mesothelial cells. When consumed, the asbestos fibers get to our abdominal cavity and cause peritoneal mesothelioma that can spread to the other parts of the body.

However, it takes the disease 20 to 50 years to attain a full shape and by then the average life of that person shrinks.

Mesothelioma treatment

The determining factors that needs to be taken into account before the commencement of the mesothelioma treatment are:

- The site of the cancer
- The stage of the disease
- The patient's physical condition

The usual types of treatment for mesothelioma are surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. However, often a combination of these treatments is also used.

The primary steps

As the symptoms do not surface during the incubation period of the disease, it is a hindrance to the medical peoples in their diagnosis. The tests, prior to surgery, that are done regarding mesothelioma treatment are:

- Blood test to check the level of blood cells
- A CT or MRI scan to see the area the cancer had extended
- A lungs test to calculate the pumping power of the lungs
- A lung's perfusion test to check the flow of blood to the lungs
- An Echocardiogram to see if the cancer had reached the heart

Surgery

A good doctor-patient relationship really helps the patient to remove the fear of operation, which is to be undergone with an empty stomach, followed by TED stockings and a good anesthesia.

An intravenous infusion, a drainage tube, an oxygen mask and few similar devices form the postoperative mesothelioma treatment.

A chest drain tube helps the damaged lungs to pump in air after the removal of pleura. Pain that starts due to the healing of the damaged nerve cells is somewhat subdued via painkillers.

To end with, breathing and chest exercises come under mesothelioma treatment that accelerate the recovery.

Chemotherapy as mesothelioma treatment

It involves a variety of medications that are used to kill the cancerous cells. Chemotherapy is often administered along with radiation therapy and is considered an effective mesothelioma treatment.

Side effects of Chemotherapy

The side effects of chemotherapy are the decrease in red and white blood cells and platelets leading to anemia, loss of immunity, nausea. Bone marrow along with the cells of stomach, hair, skin and mouth suffer from chemotherapy. However, drugs called growth factors are prescribed that aids to get rid of the above side effects to a great extent.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy, the emitting of high-energy rays to damage the DNA of the cancerous cells, both externally and internally, is a practical mesothelioma treatment relieving the patients from this fretfully fatal disease. It can be applied to reduce the tumor before operating and can even go along Chemotherapy.

The radiating rays destroy the damaged cells along with normal cells; but radiation therapy offers more than it takes.

However, you should seek the guidance of radiation oncologist who has a better understanding of the therapeutic process. It is costly and at the same time a powerful mesothelioma treatment.

New age ushers new kinds of mesothelioma treatments

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) via various clinical tests and trials are trying to achieve a better solution that reflects new lights regarding mesothelioma treatments.

- Gene therapy involves the replacement of the living cells of the patient's body by injecting a customized gene that fights the disease by providing a fresh supply of cells.

- Immunotherapy is the process of exciting your own immune system so that it fight backs the disease from the inside.

- Photodynamic Therapy unites a photosensitizing means with a light source reacting with oxygen, releasing certain chemicals to obliterate the melanoma cells.

Remember that mesothelioma treatment can show the frustrated and lonely man a new vista of existence. All types of cancer mesothelioma are life threatening and about 2000 Americans are diagnosed with it each year.

If you are reading this and you have a history of asbestos exposure, the next thing is to get an appointment with a medical practitioner.