Thursday, December 31, 2009

Peritoneal Mesothelioma - What You Ought To Identify Concerning Peritoneal Mesothelioma

By Shan Durai

Peritoneal Mesothelioma is a kind of mesothelioma that affects the peritonium area of the body. The membrane that lines the obdominal area is named the peritonium. It is an uncommon type of mesothelioma as only 30% of all instances are peritoneal mesothelioma. It is thought that patients suffering from this variety of mesothelioma have been exposed to asbestos at a few point in the past..

The length of exposure necessary required for peritoneal mesothelioma to develop is unknown. Symptoms of this cancer mostly deal with the abdominal area such as lumps, swelling and pain. Almost all patients suffering from peritoneal mesothelioma will lose their lives to it in the end.

There is no cure with the only options available pointing to increasing life expectancy and improving the quality of the patients life. The way asbestos affects the peritonium is how the cells of the membrane react to the fibers themselves. A thickening of the peritoneal membrane is the common reaction to these fibers.

Fluids start to build up in the abdominal area. Treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma includes removal of the fluid in the abdomen, Cytoreductive surgery which is an effort at removing as much visible tumors as possible. Aggressive radiation and chemotherapy usually follow after such procedures.

The radiation and chemotherapy is utilized to swiftly kill the dividing cells. Every so often, these chemicals are used directly on the affected peritonium. The survival rate statistics of mesothelioma are not encouraging, they vary from as little as 4 months to as long as decades in rare cases, but by and large, the survival period is from 12 to 18 months. The lifespan very much relies on the sort of treatment undergone, the success of the treatment and the stage at which the cancer was caught. That said, it's not possible to predict how any one patient will do.

Unfortunately, the cast majority of cases see the patients too far ahead in the spread of mesothelioma for surgery or chemotherapy to have an affect. At that point, treatment is undergone with two things in mind, alleviation of pain and extending the patients lifespan.

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