Mesothelioma an Aggressive Cancer

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer type with no cure yet. The leading cause of this disease is exposure to asbestos, which is a naturally occurring silicate. No amount of asbestos exposure is safe although this disease develops after chronic exposure. Between the exposure itself and the mesothelioma cancer detection usually there is a 20 to 40 (even 50 years) years elapse. In the development of the mesothelioma cancer the long exposure time is of decisive importance, just as the type of asbestos and the fiber size. Asbestos today is banned from construction and all of the other industries, which a few decades ago frequently used it.

Mesothelioma is often mistaken to lung cancer because it mostly affects the pleura (thoracic cavity) among other thin membranes, which cover the organs in our body.

Other membranes where mesothelioma develops are: the peritoneum (in the abdominal cavity) the pericardium (fibroserous sac which encloses the heart), and the tunica vaginalis (serous membrane, which covers the front and sides of the testis and epididymis).

The general mesothelioma symptoms are: cough, husky voice, shortness of breath or difficulty to breathe, difficulty while swallowing, chest pain or abdominal swelling and pain, fatigue, anemia, the loss of appetite, weight loss, cachexia, fluid in the chest or abdomen, inability to sleep.

It is very difficult to diagnose mesothelioma and to connect the symptoms with the cancer because many of the symptoms can easily be mistaken for other more common, not life threatening diseases like heart disease, flu, pneumonia or bronchitis.

As mentioned above there are three main types of mesothelioma cancers: malignant pleural mesothelioma, malignant pericardial mesothelioma and malignant peritoneal mesothelioma.

Other occurring mesothelioma types (not very common): testicular, epithelial, biphasic, cystic, liver, brain, papillary, adenocarcinoma, sarcomatoid and desmoplastic mesothelioma.

There are three main options for treating mesothelioma cancer: surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. These three treatment options are often combined for an effective treatment. During surgery, the cancer cells are removed and post-surgery mesothelioma doctors usually use radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Treating mesothelioma cancer with these methods will give the patients a possible extension of five years to their lives. Additional treatments used by mesothelioma doctors are anti-angiogenesis drugs, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation therapy, gene therapy, immunotherapy, massage therapy, acupuncture, and intraoperative photodynamic therapy.

In order to treat efficiently a mesothelioma cancer patient a unified and effective cooperation of general practitioners, epidemiologists, pathologists, thoracic surgeons, radiation therapists, oncologists, rehabilitation specialists and psychotherapists is required.

Find out more about mesothelioma victims. Contact a mesothelioma doctor in your area.

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Peritoneal Mesothelioma - Treatment Options to Consider

By the time it is diagnosed, it will have spread to other organs making it very deadly. However there are several methods of treatment that have been developed for Peritoneal Mesothelioma Treatment which helps to make the patients comfortable and also lengthen their lives.

The first commonly used method for Peritoneal Mesothelioma cancer treatment is through surgery. This involves removal cancer tumors and the surrounding infected tissues. This will help to eradicate the cancer, suppress its growth or just relieve the symptoms. Surgery is always done with combination of other treatment methods e.g. radiation and chemotherapy. It is however important to note that surgery comes with other related risks like death, infection to other organs among others. The success of surgery depends on several factors among them age of the patient, level of spread of the cancer among other factors.

Chemotherapy is another treatment option for periodontal mesothelioma. It involves use of different chemotherapy drugs which are administered either as pills or injections. Chemotherapy helps to stop the growth and spread of tumors and also to relieve cancer symptoms. Chemotherapy has several side effects for example nausea, vomiting, loss of weight and loss of hair. However these side effects clear very fast after finishing the medication.

Another method used to treat peritoneal mesothelioma is radiation. A beam of high energy for example X-ray is directed to the infected cells. The radiation kills cancerous cell or helps to suppress their growth and also reducing the symptoms of the cancer. Several factors are considered before choosing radiation as the treatment option for example organs close to the tumor may dictate whether to use radiation or not. Radiation is rarely used alone but rather it's used in combination with other treatment options e.g. chemotherapy and surgery. Radiation may cause the patient to feel nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and fatigue.

Another treatment option for peritoneal mesothelioma is paracentesis. This procedure is carried out to aid in reliving cancer symptoms and not for treatment or cure purposes. Thin needles are inserted into the tumors and they are used to suck cancer fluids. This helps to reduce pain for several days before other treatment methods can be carried out.

There is also another common option in modern times called immunotherapy treatment. This procedure is commonly used together with chemotherapy. It involves introducing new agents into the blood stream that helps to boost the immune system making it able to fight the growth and spread of cancer cancerous tumors. It has fewer side effects and therefore it's more desirable than the older option for example radiation that might hurt other organs.

The author has written many articles relating to peritoneal mesothelioma treatment and the effects on the body due to exposure to asbestos. It is very important that individuals understand different options available to them once they have been diagnosed with this horrible disease.

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Prognosis for Small Cell Lung Cancer: Face It Fighting

Prognosis for small cell lung cancer is no good news. Having it means you have aggressive malignant (cancer) cells in the tissues of your lung. Unless stopped, these cancerous cells will spread and destroy your healthy cells. Lung cancer is the leading cause of death affecting hundreds of thousands of men and women. Only 5% of those found afflicted managed to survive within a five year study period. The 95% did not make it despite radiation, chemotherapy or surgery. The other type of lung cancer is the non-small cell. This one is categorized into 3 sub-types, the squamous or epidermoid carcinoma, the adnocarcinoma and the large cell carcinoma or anaplastic. All three have low survival rates.

How far the small cell cancer has spread is determined by means of staging. Your treatment will be planned and implemented based on the stage of the disease. One way of finding out is by the clinical staging system which is based on the results of imaging tests such as the CT scan, MRI, chest x-ray, PET scan, biopsies and physical exam. If you underwent surgery, your doctor can discern based on a pathologic stage. You may have already heard or are aware of stage 1,2,3,4 in describing cancer. This is the TNM staging system which uses roman numerals 0 to IV (4) to describe the growth and spread of lung cancer. Under this system, the higher the number, the more serious is the spread of the cancer.

With the small lung cancer or oat cell, it can either be limited or extensive. Since diagnosis of this disease is usually detected when the cancer has already spread, majority of people have the extensive type. What it means is that the cancerous cells have invaded other parts of the body to include even the brain. Survival outlook or prognosis for small cell lung cancer is bad news for most of the cancer victims. According to the NCI's statistics, survival rate is very low for all stages of people with small cell lung cancer.

There are many stories of people who lost hope, went into depression and self blame after being diagnosed of lung cancer. They blamed their condition to smoking addiction. Aside from tobacco smoking, medical findings conclude other causes such as pollution, exposure to dangerous chemicals like asbestos, uranium, radon, etc. Your lungs are responsible for bringing oxygen into the body as you inhale and take out carbon dioxide as you exhale. When your lungs get affected with lung cancer, you experience shortness of breath, chest pain, etc.

How do you cope up with life as a cancer fighting survivor? There are many ways that you can fight it out if this will be your posture. Your belief, self-confidence, determination to wage a battle against your adversary and strong faith in whatever is the Creator's will is very important. So, first thing you need to do is know the weakness and strength of your enemy. You need to educate yourself about the intricacies of lung cancer, latest hi tech laser or cell treatments and alternative remedies. Try to research as many success stories you can find from all sources in the web through Google search, internet sites of cancer research organizations like American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute.

You have to change your lifestyle. Get plenty of fresh air and sunshine, eat plenty of fruits, nuts and vegetables, and take lots of vitamins and natural nutritional supplements like maqui berry, pomegranates and green barley. Drink plenty of purified water every day, engage in regular moderate simple exercises, yoga and meditation. For your spiritual well being, commune and pray daily to your God.

Do this passionately with the support of your doctors, friends, relatives and loved ones. Despite the negative prognosis for small cell lung cancer, the lifestyle change can improve the quality of your life, and possibly even the victor. Join social networking cancer survivor clubs. There are more than 400,000 lung cancer survivors in the United States. Participate in forums and read blogs. In short, take an active stand and face your battle standing up with your own army of fighters and supporters from all over the world hoping, urging, encouraging, inspiring, motivating, pushing and praying for you to fight it out all the way win or lose! Believe that you will win!

My name is Jet Jones and I research and write about lung cancer info. Please visit my site at http://lungcancer-stages.com/ to find information about lung cancer stages and treatments that can help you better understand this dreaded disease.

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