Mesothelioma Cancer Symptoms - Prognosis, Treat And Life Expectancy
Mesothelioma Cancer
Mesothelioma Cancer, scientifically known as the malignant Mesothelioma or more popularly known as the asbestos cancer is a cancer which is mainly caused due to exposure to asbestos. Once a rare disease, it is today being dreaded as one of the most difficult to treat cancer by the oncologists.It is mainly caused due to inhalation of asbestos fibre. So Mesothelioma mainly develops in people who have come in contact with asbestos for a considerable period of time either in their job or for other reasons like staying close to asbestos manufacturing areas. It has also been suggested that people may get inflicted with Mesothelioma because of washing clothes of their family members who works with asbestos. Mesothelioma cancer is named so because it attacks Mesothelioma, a two layered membrane that outlines our internal organs. In this disease transformed cells starts originating in the Mesothelioma membrane thus attacking the vital organs including heart, lungs and abdominal organs. The disease is most commonly found to attack the pleura, the protective lining of the lungs. The other sites for the disease development are peritoneum which lines the abdominal cavity, the pericardium which is the sac surrounding our heart and the tunica vaginalis, another sac that surrounds the testis. The disease is found to have no association with tobacco smoke, unlike lung cancer but smoking increases the chances of other forms of asbestos-induced cancers. The disease may take anywhere between 20 to 50 years to develop but a high exposure to asbestos may increase the rate of development of the disease. The increased awareness about the disease has led to many law suits being filed against asbestos manufacturers and employers. The first lawsuit was filed as early as 1929 and since then many lawsuits have been filed. With advancement in medical science efforts are being made to treat the disease in best possible way. Different treatments are available for the treatment of the disease depending on the stage of the disease. There has been plenty of notable people who have succumbed to this disease and many who fought with the disease for some time. Stephan Jay Gould wrote "The Median Isn't the Message" for Discover magazine after being diagnosed with peritoneal Mesothelioma. He survived for 20 years after being diagnosed with Mesothelioma. Author Paul Kraus was another survivor. He was given a prognosis of a year after being diagnosed with peritoneal Mesothelioma. He defied all prognoses and wrote his experiences in the book “Mesothelioma and Other Cancers: A Patient's Guide".
Mesothelioma Symptoms
Mesothelioma or the asbestos cancer is diagnosed in nearly 10,000 people worldwide every year. This deadly cancer takes anywhere between 20 to 50 years to manifest itself in the victim. There are mainly three types of Mesothelioma namely Pleural, pericardial and peritoneal Mesothelioma and each type has different symptoms.Pleural Mesothelioma is the most common form of Mesothelioma cancer and its symptoms are exposed after 20 to 50 years of exposure to asbestos. The early symptoms of this disease are similar to other ailments like flu and pneumonia. The patient complains of shortness of breath and difficulty in speaking. For this reason the symptoms are often confused with that of asthma. The other early symptoms are dry cough, pleural effusion, panting, roughness and tiredness. The patient is also found to experience unexplained weight loss. In the later stage of the disease the patient is found to suffer from chest pain, a general symptom of cancer. The pain arises due to the tumour in the pleural space. Other symptoms in the late stage include disseminated intravascular coagulation, blood clots in the veins, and pulmonary emboli. Peritoneal cancer, another form of Mesothelioma is less common and also its symptoms starts exposing earlier than the pleural form. Symptoms of this form of cancer are similar to those of hernia and appendicitis. Loss of appetite, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting leading to dangerous loss of weight may happen. Other symptoms associated with peritoneal cancer are severe abdominal pain, breathing difficulties, constipation, abdomen swelling and fever. Night sweats, ascites and hypercoagulability are some other ways in which peritoneal cancer manifests itself. In the later stages the patient may suffer bowel obstruction, jaundice, low blood sugar levels and severe ascites. Increased platelet Count is another indication. Pericardial Mesothelioma is the most rare but most dangerous form of Mesothelioma. This is caused due to transformed cell being originated in the pericardium which is the lining that surrounds our heart. It manifests itself through low blood pressure, heart mummers and fluid withholding in the legs. Other symptoms include irregular heartbeat, severe cough, chest pain, night sweats, and shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. The patient also complains of fatigue even after little activity.
Prognosis of Mesothelioma
Life expectancy of patient diagnosed with Mesothelioma is limited. So once the patient is diagnosed with the disease, the doctor declares the stage of the disease depending on the extent to which the tumour has spread in the patient’s body. The stage declaration indicates the chances of the patient’s survival and his life expectancy. So once the stage is determined the doctor got to provide the patient with the prognosis or in other words an approximation of how long he would survive the disease.Overall the prognosis for a Mesothelioma patient is usually bleak as the survival rate of this disease is unfortunately very low. This is mainly because Mesothelioma has a long latency period and most of the patients are diagnosed with the disease only in the advanced stage. Hence on an average a Mesothelioma patient survive only for a year or two after being diagnosed with the cancer. However there have exceptional cases of survival as well. There are number of factors which determine a Mesothelioma patient’s prognosis like the patient’s age and health status, stage in which the disease has been diagnosed, the location and size of the tumour, the cell type being attacked by the disease, course of treatment, patient’s lifestyle etc. Pleural Mesothelioma is the most common form of this cancer and is found to have the highest survival rate among the other forms. The patient has a greater life expectancy if the disease is diagnosed in Stage 1 or stage 2. However if the disease is diagnosed in the later stages the life expectancy of the patient reduces. General health of the patient and his age are other important factors determining the prognosis of the patient. A good immune system and a younger age are often found to be favourable as these patients are found to respond more to the treatment. Gender of the patient and his symptoms also play a role in determining the prognosis. Researchers have found the woman tend to survive the disease more than the male and also patients who initially show no to survive longer. Dietary change, regular exercise and quitting smoking can also led to favourable prognosis. Considering all these factors the oncologist provides the patient with a prognosis. But prognosis is a difficult task as cancer is a very unpredictable disease and cases have been found where the patient had been found to live for much longer than their prognosis.
Treatment of Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma treatment includes surgery, chemotherapy and radiations and also a combination one or many of these. The treatment procedure is mainly decided on the basis of the stage of the disease and also the extent to which the cancer has manifested itself in the patient’s body. The oncologist first determines the stage post the diagnosis and then prescribes a treatment considering the risk associated and the extent to which the tumour has progressed in the patient’s body. If the disease is diagnosed in the early stages an attempt could be made to remove the cancer from the patient completely. But late diagnosis usually calls for treatment that’s only for palliative care to relieve pain and improve the quality of life of the patient.The Mesothelioma may attack vital organs like lungs, abdomen, heart and testicles. The location of tumour determines the treatment plan. After the diagnosis the doctor categorizes Mesothelioma into one of the four stages. If the patient is diagnosed to have Stage 1 or Stage 2 cancer, a treatment with a combination of one or more of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery is prescribed with an aim to completely eliminate the disease from the patient’s body. Life expectancy of a Mesothelioma Patient is very less and unfortunately less than 10% of the diagnosed ones survive for more than 5 years. There have been exceptions where some patients have been found to fight the disease for more than 20 years after being diagnosed of Mesothelioma. The unusual survival is attributed to better immune system. The success rate of curative treatment increases if the patient is in good health, is younger and the disease has been diagnosed early in stage 1 or stage 2. The curative treatment procedure included a combination of one or more of radiation therapy, surgery and chemotherapy. First Surgery is done to remove the tumour and cancerous cells from the body of the patient as much as possible. Then X- ray radiation and Chemotherapy are used for killing the left over cancerous cells. A combination of the treatment procedure has been found to more effective than when only surgery or only radiation is used. However, if the patient is diagnosed with a stage three or stage four Mesothelioma then treatment is prescribed mainly to reduce the pain of the suffer as there is very less chance of survival. Hence improving the quality of the remaining of the patient is the main aim of the treatment.
Life Expectancy in Mesothelioma Cancer Patients
Life expectancy of a Mesothelioma patient varies depending on various reasons such as patients age at the time of diagnosis, his heath status, location of the tumour, stage of the Mesothelioma in which the disease has been diagnosed, disease severity and also patient’s smoking habits.
Mostly the life expectancy of Mesothelioma patients is anywhere between 4 to 18 months. However some patients have been known to defy all prognoses and live for years. Researchers attribute enhanced immune system and lesser age as the reason behind this. However only less that 10 % of the patients are found to fall in this category. As is with the other forms of cancer, oncologists use staging to classify the severity and the extent to which the disease has infected the patient’s organs. Mainly Mesothelioma is classified in four stages for the purpose of study, diagnosis and treatment. In diagnosis the examiner first checks the medical history and performs the physical examination. Then to confirm the disease imaging studies are conducted which includes X- ray, CT Scans and MRIs and also PET scans. Post the diagnosis the oncologists confirm the Mesothelioma stage of the patient. In the Stage 1 of Mesothelioma patients complains of chest pain and unexplained weight loss, pneumonia and fever as well. They mainly exhibit pleural effusion. Fluid starts to build up in the pleura. In this stage the cancer is still in the nascent stage has not infested the other parts of the body and hence the treatment is more effective. The treatment in this stage includes surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. In the stage 2 the patient exhibit pleural effusion with widespread involvement of the visceral pleura and lung on the affected side. There is metastasis into the regional lymph nodes. Surgical treatment is mainly prescribed in this stage and the average life expectancy is 19 months. In the stages 3 and 4, extensive metastasis occurs throughout the body. Stage 3are prescribed with surgical resections, and even chemotherapy or radiation. The average life of third stage patients is 13 months. The extensive metastasis in the stage 4 makes palliative care as the only viable option. The life expectancy for stage 4 patient is 6.5 months. Mesothelioma Cancer Symptoms - Prognosis, Treat And Life Expectancy |