Mesothelioma Facts-a Brief Overview

to 80% of all cases of mesothelioma occur in people with a traceable history of exposure to asbestos. These numbers are from epidemiological surveys. Most likely, the remaining mesothelioma cases are also due to asbestos, but that the patient could not identify exactly where or when the asbestos fiber exposure occurred.

Mesothelioma is a very tough cancer. Most patients are treated with surgery and chemotherapy. Sometimes radiation therapy is also used for treatment. Radiotherapy is applied using innovative techniques such as tomotherapy and intensity modulated radiation therapy. Radiotherapy can also be applied using Brachytherapy for targeted radiation treatment of the tumor.

Chemotherapy which usually involves the use of the antifolate drug pemetrexed (Alimta) in combination with cisplatin has been embraced by many mesothelioma specialists. Median survival time, even with good medical care, is very low with majority of the patients dying within a year or two after diagnosis and only a few living up to five years after diagnosis.

One of the common symptoms of mesothelioma is the accumulation of excessive fluids in body cavities known as effusions. The effusions can be into the pleural space{pleural effusion} or into the peritoneal space in the abdomen{ascites} depending on the site and shape of the tumor. Mesothelioma can be classified as either pleural (the most common type) or peritoneal, depending on the location of the disease. (There are other types, but pleural and peritoneal are the most common.)

To make a definitive diagnosis mesothelioma, the doctor takes a sample of the tumor or, the pleural fluid, and conducts a biopsy in a lab. Immunohistochemical markers are employed in biopsy to distinguish mesothelioma from adenocarcinoma. These markers are usually glycoproteins.

Other markers can be detected in the blood to help identify mesothelioma. Soluble mesothelin-related (SMR) proteins released by mesothelioma cells are distinctive enough to show up in the blood, if the appropriate test is conducted. However, definitive diagnosis still requires a laboratory biopsy.

Tests and trials with gene therapy and immunotherapy are sometimes used to treat mesothelioma cases, but the standard cancer treatment modalities of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy remain the most used modes of mesothelioma treatment.