How to Diagnose Pleural Mesothelioma and What Treatment Options Are Available Today?

Medical specialists have failed to come up with clear options of diagnosing pleural mesothelioma so far. Even after diagnosis of the disease, patients find it hard to obtain the right remedy a long period of time. Research on this medical condition indicates that significant prognostic aspects encompass cancer, histology and age. Mesothelioma surgery enhances the chances of the patient staying for longer period of time but it cannot be relied on to fully treat the disease. Patients who have undergone this kind of surgery experience certain aspects associated with enhanced survival. Research has indicated that the average length of survival of pleural mesothelioma is only 16 months.

Statistically, about 66 percent of the patients experience peritoneal and pleural effusions. Another key symptom of this medical complication is hemothorax, which refers to collection or flow of blood to the pleural cavity.

Diagnosis of this medical condition entails molecular biological tests, histological analysis besides imaging technology. A smear is examined under the microscope to spot any unordinary organisms. Diagnosis is carried out once the health care provider suspects an infection in the pleural cavity. It can also be carried out if the GP notices an abnormal flow of pleural fluid through X-ray.

When it comes to treatment, extrapleural pneumonectomy can be carried out to foster the chances of survival. However, its effect on the chances of continuous survival of the patients is not yet clear. Thorough treatment can help some patients, but it is still unclear which treatments are most effective when it comes to this disease. Most certainly different individuals fair differently with different treatments. For this reason treatment for pleural mesothelioma is individualized. Often a number of treatments including mesothelioma chemotherapy are utilized.

Health care providers sometimes suggest pleurectomy as well as decortication so as to eliminate the mass of the underlying malignant tissue and help to ease the pressure on the chest region. This helps to ease the discomfort that is often experienced. Mesothelioma surgery is always risky, but studies on pleurectomy as well as decortication indicate that no more than 2 percent of all patients face death during the surgical procedure. The National Cancer Institute reports indicate that less than 30 percent of all the patients face deaths during drastic pneumonectomy.

Soon after any surgical case, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are typically initiated. However, the two remedies provide little hope of patients surviving for long periods of time. Radioing therapy is relied on because it is effective in alleviating discomfort that is experienced by the patient.

Clinic trials have been conducted in search of a clear chemotherapy treatment. This only involves one or a number of drugs. Although a clear chemotherapy drug for the treatment of pleural mesothelioma has not yet been discovered, the most important technique applied by specialist oncologists is the anti-foliate pemetrexed together with alkylating regimen. Your health care provider should be in a position to give an individualized region for your situation.


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