Thursday, October 21, 2010

Effective Treatments for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Cancer

The occurrence of this disease in the human body is caused primarily by the inhalation of asbestos fibers which finally settle in the vicinities of the lungs. As time passes by, these asbestos fibers imbed in the lung’s linings (scientifically called as the pleura) which cause the latter to be inflamed. As a reaction, cancerous tumor cells grow along these linings and finally spread across the lungs, hence becoming malignant pleural mesothelioma cancer.

As has been less known to plenty of, pleural mesothelioma cancer is not a kind of lung cancer, it affects the serous membranes of our body. Misconceptions arise about the disease because it primarily affects the lungs, or specifically the lung pleura, hence the name. it is the most common type of mesothelioma because it affects about 75% of all the mesothelioma cancer patients.

The medical field hasn’t been able, yet, to lay the ground rules in determining pleural mesothelioma at its early stages. it is on the later stages of the disease that the disease’s signs become recognizable. General signs also appear such as progressive weight loss, consistent dry cough, sweating at night and experiencing fatigue simply.

Some effective treatments of malignant pleural mesothelioma cancer have been available lately, which include radiotherapy, surgical procedure, and chemotherapy. Trimodal therapy may even be an option, which is a mix of the aforementioned treatment options. Another option is the removal of the diseased lung, the surgical procedure being called extrapleural pneumonectomy. This surgical procedure may even be done in the removal of a part of the diaphragm, the pericardium which is the membrane covering the heart, and the membrane lining the chest called the parietal pleura.

Although these treatments will be effective in a short-term period, there respective impact on the patient’s health cannot be thoroughly established as of the moment. Different factors contribute to the survival rate of the patient such as age, health history and complications brought about by pleural mesothelioma cancer.

The number of cases reported with malignant pleural mesothelioma cancer has been increasing around the world. The continuous search for more effective treatments for this disease has been put in to a brand new level of urgency. Because of the fact that some treatments usually applied to the cancer patient have been only effective, there’s still a necessity for more studies about the disease to collect more hard proof to establish a widely established therapeutic approach to the treatment of the disease. The medical field is hoping that more effective treatments for malignant pleural mesothelioma cancer will be discovered in the years to come.

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