Therapy And The Mesothelioma Survival Rate?
Mesothelioma can be a benign or malignant tumor that affects the mesothelium. The mesothelium is a membrane that envelopes the majority of the organs in the body. In most cases, the disease starts in the lining of the lungs or the abdomen. The mesothelioma survival rate depends on several factors.
The disease might be named according to its location in the body but one name for it is Fibroma.
Those who suffer from the cancerous type probably had jobs where they inhaled asbestos. The non cancerous form shows no trace of being related to asbestos.
The mesothelium consists of two layers. The first layer envelopes the organ directly. The other layer develops a sac around it. The mesothelium creates a fluid that is secreted in between the layers which allows the organs to move and to slide easily against other body parts.
Asbestos plays a big role in mesothelioma. Of all people diagnosed with the illness, 70% to 80% of them worked around it. It is possible for the disease to develop without ever being exposed to asbestos though.
There is proof to support the fact that even family members are at risk for the disease because they lived with worker. It could be related to asbestos dust.
The disease has not been linked to smoking however; the combination of both can cause lung cancer.
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that is flexible and strong.
Lung cancer, and other cancers, has been linked to asbestos. Other persistent diseases such as asbestosis affect the lungs.
Those who work around asbestos now, must wear protective gear to decrease the chance of exposure.
The treatment for the disease is determined by several factors. The location of the cancer, the stage of the disease and the patient’s age and general health are the factors.
Treatment options include: Surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. In some cases, all three are used together.
As rare as the disease is, the last 20 years has seen a boost in the number of cases. 2,000 new cases are reported every year. Men are more susceptible to the disease than women.
Most people are told that their survival rate is less than a year. There are those who make it past this time.
Keep in mind that the symptoms of the cancer can take half a century to show. By this time, the cancer has reached its later stages.
New blood tests such as Mesomark are making it possible to doctors to detect the disease early. As a result, patients are living longer. Catching it in its early stages leaves more treatment options available.
Living past the one year mark is possible. It is even possible to be cured. Why some survive the illness and other do not is currently unknown.
Immune system seems to play a huge role. It seems that those who received a kind of therapy that strengthened their immune system. Treatments may be clinical trials in immunology or alternative therapies.
It seems like the average survival rate for a person with mesothelioma is this: 1st year, 39 percent survival rate, 2nd year, 20 percent survival rate, 3rd year, 11 percent survival rate, 4th year, 10 percent survival rate and fifth year, 9 percent survival rate.
Mesothelioma affects a lot of people who’ve worked with or near asbestos. If you have a loved one who has contracted this, the the mesothelioma survival rate is not very high. Even though each year doctors are trying to improve ways to ensure more people survive.