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Asbestos Related Diseases
Asbestos is used in over 3000 modern products and most people have suffered at least some degree of exposure to it at one point or another. Most asbestos exposure is limited to minute portions of well maintained building materials such as concrete,...
How is Mesothelioma Diagnosed?
Diagnosing mesothelioma is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. Diagnosis begins with a review of the patient's medical history, including any history of asbestos exposure. A complete physical...
Mesothelioma Treatment
Like all other types of cancer, mesothelioma is incurable. Although doctors and scientists have made a great deal of progress for diagnosing and treating these malignancies, there is still no current way to completely get rid of it. When a group of...
Pericardial Mesothelioma
Pericardial mesothelioma is a rare form of mesothelioma that
accounts for roughly 5% of all mesothelioma cases. Pericardial
mesothelioma is a cancer that grows on the lining of the heart.
The lining of the heart is extremely important because it...
Sports Nutrition Basics
Sports are fun but if you are really serious about making it a part of your life and excel then the importance of sports nutrition is not new to you.
Many sportsmen believe that proper nutrition is a key factor in making those rapid improvements...
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Pericardial Mesothelioma Treatment
Pericardial Mesothelioma is an extremely difficult cancer to
treat and presently, all treatment methods used have a poor
success rate. The chances of a patient's survival depend largely
on how early and how aggressively the cancer is treated. If
pericardial mesothelioma is treated when it has fully matured
and developed then the chances of survival are very slim and the
prognosis for a patient could be only a couple of months. The
latency period of pericardial mesothelioma (30 - 50 years), and
its symptoms which are ordinary of other more common diseases
such as pneumonia, make it extremely difficult to diagnose and
therefore difficult to treat in its early stages. In this way, a
lot of pericardial mesothelioma treatments do not aim to cure
patients but instead focus on reducing the symptoms.
Before a patient is treated, a doctor will evaluate him or her,
and afterwards decide which treatment method is most suitable
for the patient's situation. The patient's age, medical history,
general well being and even weight are taken into account before
the doctor will decide which of the three treatments are most
appropriate. These treatments are surgery, chemotherapy and
radiation therapy.
Surgery
There are two different types of surgery that can be used one of
which is called aggressive surgery. This is the most dangerous
of all the treatment methods available and only the fittest of
people are deemed strong enough to undergo this. Aggressive
surgery consists of removing large chunks of cancerous cells
from inside the patient. This is extremely dangerous in the case
of pericardial mesothelioma seeing as the cancerous cells are in
extremely close proximity to vital organs such as the heart and
lungs. Extremely skilled surgeons are needed to perform this
operation.
The second type of surgery is palliative
procedures and this
type of surgery is used only for the purpose of reducing the
symptoms of the cancer. Palliative procedures are performed when
pericardial mesothelioma is in its latest stages and is
practically impossible to cure.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the most well known cure of cancers and involves
using drugs to kill of cancerous cells. However, many of the
drugs used do not have a high success rate although researchers
are discovering new combinations of drugs that work more
effectively. Many pharmaceutical companies are also endeavouring
to find new drugs. Researchers predict that they will soon
discover a drug with a significantly improved success rate.
Radiation Therapy
This form of treatment uses doses of radiation to kill cancerous
cells. However, in the case of pericardial mesothelioma this is
extremely difficult because as well as damaging cancerous cells,
the radiation also damages vital organs such as the heart and
lungs. This makes using radiation therapy most effectively
extremely difficult. The dose of radiation is usually too weak
to make a significant impact on curing pericardial mesothelioma.
Dual Therapy
Dual therapy is just a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and
radiation therapy. This consists of using surgery to remove the
majority of the cancer cells and then using chemotherapy and
radiation therapy to kill off any remaining cells. This has
proved to be an effective treatment method however also very
dangerous. Only the fittest young people are able to undergo
this treatment.
About the author:
For more information on pericardial mesothelioma such as the
risks, causes, symptoms and treatments go to:
http://www.pericardialmesothelioma.co.uk,
http://www.pericardial-mesothelioma.co.uk and
http://www.asbestos-resource.co.uk
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