Asbestos And Mesothelioma

The surgical procedures for asbestosis treatments or mesothelioma are often considerably arduous, especially if the patient is elderly and a diagnosis is made when the disease is likely to have reached an advanced stage and spread to other tissue areas of the body.

News that a possible alternative to invasive surgery may now be possible, comes from latest research being conducted at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

It is because a long latency period of between 15 and 50 years can elapse from first exposure to asbestos until signs of a suspected mesothelioma or asbestosis symptoms appear that often multiple and very aggressive surgery is attempted to remove the widespread cancerous tumours.

The use of specialised treatment procedures can mean remission may sometimes be achieved, although complete remission and the disappearance of all evidence of mesothelioma cancer is rare.

Traditionally, the first procedure would involve diagnostic surgery to assess the stage and severity to which the mesothelioma cancer has advanced. Further potentially curative surgery is possible if performed at an early stage, and the patient is sufficiently capable to withstand intense surgery followed by a long and demanding rehabilitation process.

A new system has been in development at the University of Strathclyde, which could mean that patients suffering from mesothelioma and lung cancer ” could receive safer and more efficient treatment”. Medications can be now be delivered through a nebuliser, allowing patients to inhale drug treatments in the form of a mist inhaled into the lungs rather than intravenously.

Commonly applied in the medical treatment of cystic fibrosis, asthma, COPD and other respiratory diseases, nebulisers use oxygen, compressed air or ultrasonic power to break up medical solutions/suspensions into small aerosol droplets, which can be directly inhaled from a mouthpiece.

The research hopes that by using cisplatin, one of the most widely used drugs for treating mesothelioma, in a vaporised form, cancerous cells could be more easily targeted and damage to healthy cells would be avoided. As a result, treatment would be less of a debilitating experience for patients and may also increase their survival rate.

The survival rate for the incurable mesothelioma cancer can be between 4 to 12 months. In recent years, medical advances plus combined surgical, radiotherapy and palliative procedures have helped to increase individual patient survival by up to 18 months, and sometimes two years or more. In 2009, alone, over 4,000 deaths occurred which were attributed to mesothelioma and lung cancer.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that is really impossible to treat. There are some latest treatment procedures that are really promising when it comes to curb this type of cancer. Anti-angiogenesis is one of the recent mode of cancer treatment. These drugs are not out to target the tumor that is causing the mesothelioma. The drugs are meant for the blood vessels that make the tumors grow. The drugs target the vascular endothelial growth factor that is instrumental in enable blood vessels to form. So the anti-angiogenesis drugs make sure that the vascular endothelial growths do not feed the tumor. This causes the tumor to cease growing and spreading to very important body organs.

New treatments for mesothelioma include immunotherapy which is very effective. The reason why it is effective is because it goes to the base of disease prevention in the body. Biological response modifiers help in improving the immune system of people thus making it possible for the body to rid of the cancerous cells of the mesothelioma. These modifiers play a big role in making the tumors harmless to the body and what happens is that the modifiers inhibit the cancer cells from growing thus making mesothelioma spread highly impossible. The modifiers practically enhance the functions of the antibodies. They can make the body identify cells that are not good for it and thus eliminate them before they cause further harm. Mesothelioma happens when cells that are normal are transformed to cancerous cells. The modifiers make the immune system very strong in the sense that they cease the transformation from normal to cancerous.

The photodynamic therapy is another form of new age mesothelioma treatment. This treatment uses laser light that is induced in to the system of the patient. The light targets the cells that have been harmed by the mesothelioma. When the cells are in contact with the light, then they are going to slowly stop thriving and then eventually die. This therapy is usually in the form of drugs that at times affected some patients who had mesothelioma. The effect is not as drastic the only problem is the patients experience sudden sensitive skin.

Gene therapy is also a new age mesothelioma treatment procedure that is proving to be very effective. This type of treatment has everything to do with the genes of the patient who has the mesothelioma. This type of therapy makes the gene structure of the patient who has mesothelioma have the genes to eradicate this type of cancer.

There are some researchers who have found out that skin cancer cream help in the treatment of mesothelioma. This clinical trial involves the cream being put in the tumor that has the mesothelioma. When the cream was in the tumor, the body responded by reproducing cells that in turn eradicate the cancerous mesothelioma cells. This type of trial seems to be very promising and many mesothelioma patients will soon be cured and the cancer will go and stop making their health life harder.

If you or a loved one suspects you may have mesothelioma, you should find out immediately by a qualified doctor. Generally speaking it is usually caused by exposure to asbestos. You may be eligible for financial relief or even have grounds for a lawsuit. Your first step is to talk to an attorney.

Although peritoneal mesothelioma case is rarer than pleural mesothelioma, it is often more aggressive and gives lower life expectancy compared to the pleural form. Peritoneal mesothelioma may develop as an extension of pleural mesothelioma through the lymphatic system or stand alone as the primary site of the cancer.

Most people suffering from peritoneal mesothelioma failed to recognize the symptoms as they resemble flu symptoms such as nausea or vomiting, abdominal pain or fever. A change in bowel movement may occur once the cancerous tumor grows bigger downward, on the other hand if the tumor develops upward it can disturb the respiratory system. Pain in abdominal region can happen when the mass of tumor pressurizes the nerve fibers. Weight loss and swelling abdomen are other indications of this abdominal cancer, however when patients seek their doctors’ opinions at this stage it could be too late as normally the cancer has spread and grown bigger in the peritoneal cavity or abdominal cavity.

Diagnosis of peritoneal mesothelioma is very difficult and there is no defined system so far that can differentiate the stages of the cancerous tumor development. When needed, TNM staging system is normally used to detect the cancer in stages.

Treatments for peritoneal mesothelioma are similar to what is used for pleural mesothelioma which may include chemotherapy, radiation or surgery. Although these treatments can’t cure the cancer, they does provide a better prognosis compared to the pleural mesothelioma. The peritoneal mesothelioma life expectancy for untreated cases is 6 months to 1 year but with aggressive treatments patients can expect to live for another 2 – 5 years.

Despite of poor life expectancy, some patients with mesothelioma successfully beat the disease and live much longer than expected. Instead of weeping and waiting for the death coming they searched for alternative solutions and radically changed their lifestyles. That’s how they managed to be the survivors of mesothelioma. Rhio O’Connor and Paul Kraus for example were given a few months only to live but they rejected the idea of giving up and were determined to survive instead. No matter how small your chance is, you should never
give up.