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Remedy Procedures And Methods For Pericardial Mesothelioma

9th June, 2010 - Posted by health news - No Comments

Of all the asbestos related disease caused by asbestos dust (mesothelioma), pericardial mesothelioma is the most uncommon, accounting for a fraction of all cases (5%). It is a malignancy that grows on the pericardium (the lining of the heart). This is a sensitive ‘film’, and any contamination on the pericardium can have deadly outcomes.

Once somebody has been clinically determined to have pericardial mesothelioma they are offered 3 different therapy choices. They are radiation, surgery and chemotherapy. Pericardial Mesothelioma is very hard to deal with (due to the complexity involved with removing the cancers from the pericardium), and a patient’s odds of survival are usually small. All 3 techniques possess a below average success rate primarily due to the fact that pericardial mesothelioma is discovered in the mature phases of development. (The reason for this is because in the earlier stages of the cancer the symptoms resemble those of ailments like pneumonia). The prognosis for a person undergoing therapy at this time (mature stage) is generally less than a year.

Before therapy, the individual requires a doctor’s assessment in order to determine which of the 3 treatment options are suitable for him/her. Details such as age, bodyweight, health background, and basic well-being are taken into account prior towards the commencement of therapy. So, how can youaddress pericardial mesothelioma ?

Radiation – Just like all cancer treatment options that use this technique, large doses of radiation are utilized to kill the cancerous cellular material on the pericardium. The down-side to radiation therapy is that not only are you killing the cancerous cells, but you are also endangering your essential organs in near proximity towards the heart, namely the lung area. The heart also gets damaged (due to the large doses of radiation).

Surgical treatment – You can break this down into two components; aggressive surgery and palliative procedures. Aggressive surgery involves the elimination of the cancerous cell. Since these are really close towards the heart and lungs, this causes it to be an very dangerous process and something that requires an very experienced surgeon.

Palliative procedures are utilized in the final of phases of pericardial mesothelioma and serve the sole reason for reducing the symptoms. Generally at this time the cancer is absolutely not curable.

Chemotherapy – This is the most widely used of cancer therapies which involves the use of drug treatments to kill the cancerous cells. Regrettably, the majority of drug treatments utilized possess a low success rate with pericardial mesothelioma. Research is being carried out to come up with a cocktail of drugs that possess a much more favourable outcome.

There is an additional form of therapy which involves using all 3 aforementioned therapy choices. It is referred to as Dual Therapy. Surgical treatment is utilized to get rid of the cancerous cells, then chemotherapy and radiation are utilized to kill the remaining cells. The success rate for this technique is higher than just using radiation, surgery or chemotherapy alone, but can nevertheless be risky.