The information on malignant mesothelioma treatment, and its symptoms and cure given on this page are intended for general use only. You must always consult a Mesothelioma Doctor for any medical problem.
If you or someone you love has mesothelioma injury, you should consult a qualified attorney to advocate your rights in a mesothelioma lawsuit.
Symptoms of Mesotheliomas
There are no immediate mesothelioma symptoms or signs. The symptoms of mesothelioma may appear in 30 - 50 years after exposure to asbestos. A person with pleural mesothelioma has symptoms of shortness of breath and pain in the chest due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleur.
A person with peritoneal mesothelioma has symptoms of abdominal pain and weight loss, blood clotting abnormalities, anemia and fever.
Please note that these symptoms may be due to other reasons.
Heavy wrinkling may be a sign of cancer risk How many wrinkles you have may be an indication of your lung cancer risk, according to a recent study (2006) by British researchers at The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital that concluded that middle-aged smokers with heavily lined faces have a 5 times higher risk of lung disease than their unwrinkled peers. After age and the number of years someone had smoked were taken into account, heavy wrinkling was the next factor that seems to point to increased risk, they said.
Severe wrinkling also shows a lack of anti-ageing antioxidants, like vitamin C, which also help protect against disease. Medical experts are now recommending to look out for premature heavy wrinkling in addition to other symptoms of lung disease such as persistent smokers cough and breathlessness.
Treatment of Mesotheliomas
Malignant mesothelioma is a serious illness and is presently regarded as incurable. There is no standard treatment or cure for mesothelioma. In general, mesothelioma is resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy and cure by surgery has not been successful.
Researchers are currently searching for effective mesothelioma treatment or cure options and hope to find a mesothelioma cure. Recent research on mice by Dr Richard Lake at the University of Western Australia gives some hope that a cure could be found for mesothelioma in future. Dr Lake combined chemotherapy drug called coramsine (still under development) and immunotherapy on mice to stimulate the immune system. The mice not only recovered from mesotheliom but also rejected subsequent attempts to grow another tumour.
According to the National Cancer Institute, asbestos-exposed workers who quit smoking can reduce their risk of developing lung cancer by 50% within five years of quitting.
The chance of recovery for a patient with mesothelioma depends on size and location of the cancer, age of the patient and his response to the treatment.
Presently, the treatment options for mesotheliomas are:
Radiation therapy: Mesotheliomas are only moderately responsive to radiation. The quality of life of the patient can be improved as the radiation can effectively reduce pain and shortness of breath. Survival in the patients is not significantly improved.
Chemotherapy: The chemotherapy with doxorubicin (adriamycin) has shown response rates of approximately 20%. The radiation agents like cyclophosphamide (cytoxan), 5-fluorouracil and methotrexate have shown no better results. The trial with intrapleural infusion of cisplatinum is in the early stages experimentation. The response rate to single agent chemotherapy is low (<20%) with the highest response rate for doxorubicin, mitomycin and ifosfamide.
Surgery: The surgical options including extrapleural pneumonectomy (removing the tumour by excising lun) and pleurectomy/decortication have been not successful so far. Radical surgery or extrapleural pleuropneumonectomy is a major surgical procedure aiming at removing the tumour by excising lung, ipsilateral parietal and mediastinal pleura, diaphragm and pericardium.
Photodynamic therapy: An intravenous photosensitizer is given to the cancer cells, which are then activated by a specific wavelength of laser light to destroy the cancer cell. This option is in the early stages experimentation.
Use of surgery combined with either radiation or chemotherapy have shown the possibility to increase the survival time by double.
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