Treatments for mesothelioma

Who don't  know Mesothelioma today? Mesothelioma is a kind of permanent cancer disease. Mesothelioma cancer occurs when tissues of our lungs or abdominal components get affected. In more cases asbestos exposure was identified as the reason for mesothelioma disease. Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear immediately after it’s exposure, it takes time between twenty to thirty years. This enables the disease identification process a critical one.Treatments for mesothelioma depends on the stage of the cancer, the specific part being affected, the total amount of space being affected,how long one havethe problem, the look of the cancer cells under microscope and the age factor of the patient. These are the factors that are being considered before choosing the treatment option.Treatments for mesothelioma include Surgery, Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy. There are two types of surgeriesavailable one is aggressive surgery and another one is called palliativeprocedures.Aggressive surgery is done through a procedure named extra pleural pneumonectomy, by which the pleura, the lung, the diaphragm and the pericardium are removed. The aggressive surgery’s motive is to remove as much mesothelioma tumor as possible.Palliative procedures will be done when the mesothelioma disease is at the matured stage. The motive of this procedure is to give relief to the patient from the symptoms.Chemotherapy: In chemotherapy drugs are being used to treat mesothelioma cancer. The drugs may be in the form of pills or injections. To improve the results of chemotherapy some drugs may be used as mix in some proportion and this has given a good improvement in the treatment results.Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy uses radiations to kill mesothelioma tumor. This procedure is complex to undergo as the tumors are surrounded by sensitive parts of our body. There are possibilities that the heart and lungs being damaged by the radiation. Lower dose radiation is one solution to slightly overcome from this critical issue.Though mesothelioma is a permanent cancer disease and the survival rate is very low, timely identification and perfect treatment at the right time could able to help us survive some long time.

Malignant mesothelioma

Malignant mesothelioma is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the lining of the chest or abdomen. Malignant mesothelioma is a disease in which malignant cancer cells are foundin the pleura (the thin layer of tissue that lines the chest cavity and covers the lungs) or the peritoneum (the thin layer of tissue that lines the abdomen and covers most of the organs in the abdomen). This summary is about malignant mesothelioma of the pleura. Anatomy of the respiratory system, showing the trachea and both lungs and their lobes and airways. Lymph nodes and the diaphragm are also shown. Oxygen is inhaled into the lungs and passes through the thin membranes of the alveoli and into the bloodstream (see inset). Being exposed to asbestos can affect the risk of developing malignant mesothelioma.  Anything that increases your chance of getting a disease is called a risk factor. Having a risk factor does not mean that you will get cancer; not having risk factors doesn't mean that you will not get cancer. People who think they may be at risk should discuss this with their doctor. Many people with malignant mesothelioma have worked or lived in places where they inhaled or swallowed asbestos. After being exposed to asbestos, it usually takes a long time for malignant mesothelioma to occur. Other risk factors for malignant mesothelioma include the following:
•    Living with a person who works near asbestos.
•    Being exposed to a certain virus.
Possible signs of malignant mesothelioma include shortness of breath and pain under the rib cage. Sometimes the cancer causes fluid to collect around the lung or in the abdomen. These symptoms may be caused by the fluid or malignant mesothelioma. Other conditions may cause the same symptoms. A doctor should be consulted if any of the following problems occur:
•    Trouble breathing.
•    Pain under the rib cage.
•    Pain or swelling in the abdomen
•    Lumps in the abdomen.
•    Weight loss for no known reason.
Tests that examine the inside of the chest and abdomen are used to detect (find) and diagnose malignant mesothelioma.Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer. The following,

Symptoms of lung cancer

Symptoms of lung cancer are varied depending upon where and how widespread the tumor is. Warning signs of lung cancer are not always present or easy to identify. A person with lung cancer may have the following kinds of symptoms. No symptoms: In up to 25% of people who get lung cancer, the cancer is first discovered on a routine chest X-ray or CT scan as a solitary small mass sometimes called a coin lesion, since on a two-dimensional X-ray or CT scan, the round tumor looks like a coin. These patients with small, single masses often report no symptoms at the time the cancer is discovered. Symptoms related to the cancer: The growth of the cancer and invasion of lung tissues and surrounding tissue may interfere with breathing, leading to symptoms such as cough shortness of breath wheezing, chest pain and coughing up blood hemoptysis If the cancer has invaded nerves, for example, it may cause shoulderchest pain that travels down the outside of the arm (called Pancoast's syndrome) or paralysis of the vocal cords leading to hoarseness Invasion of the esophagus may lead to difficulty swallowing. If a large airway is obstructed, collapse of a portion of the lung may occur and cause infections (abscesses pneumonia) in the obstructed area.Paraneoplastic symptoms: Lung cancers frequently are accompanied by symptoms that result from production of hormone-like substances by the tumor cells. These paraneoplastic syndromes occur most commonly with SCLC but may be seen with any tumor type. A common paraneoplastic syndrome associated with SCLC is the production of a hormone called adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) by the cancer cells, leading to oversecretion of the hormone cortisol by the adrenal glands Cushing's syndrom. The most frequent paraneoplastic syndrome seen with NSCLC is the production of a substance similar to parathyroid hormone, resulting in elevated levels of calcium in the bloodstream. Nonspecific symptoms: Nonspecific symptoms seen with many cancers, including lung cancers, include weight los weakness, and fatigue Psychological symptoms such as , depression and mood changes are also common.

Lung Cancer

Cancer of the lung, like all cancers, results from an abnormality in the body's basic unit of life, the cell. Normally, the body maintains a system of checks and balances on cell growth so that cells divide to produce new cells only when new cells are needed. Disruption of this system of checks and balances on cell growth results in an uncontrolled division and proliferation of cells that eventually forms a mass known as a tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant; when we speak of "cancer," we are referring to those tumors that are malignant. Benign tumors usually can be removed and do not spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumors, on the other hand, grow aggressively and invade other tissues of the body, allowing entry of tumor cells into the bloodstream or lymphatic system and then to other sites in the body. This process of spread is termed metastasis; the areas of tumor growth at these distant sites are called metastases. Since lung cancer tends to spread or metastasize very early after it forms, it is a very life-threatening cancer and one of the most difficult cancers to treat. While lung cancer can spread to any organ in the body, certain organs -- particularly the adrenal glands, liver, brain, and bone are the most common sites for lung cancer metastasis.The lung also is a very common site for metastasis from tumors in other parts of the body. Tumor metastases are made up of the same type of cells as the original (primary) tumor. For example, if prostate cancer spreads via the bloodstream to the lungs, it is metastatic prostate cancer deaths in the lung and is not lung cancer.The principal function of the lungs is to exchange gases between the air we breathe and the blood. Through the lung, carbon dioxide is removed from the bloodstream and oxygen from inspired air enters the bloodstream. The right lung has three lobes, while the left lung is divided into two lobes and a small structure called the lingula that is the equivalent of the middle lobe on the right. The major airways entering the lungs are the bronchi, which arise from the trachea. The bronchi branch into progressively smaller airways called bronchioles that end in tiny sacs known as alveoli where gas exchange occurs. The lungs and chest wall are covered with a thin layer of tissue called the pleura. Lung cancers can arise in any part of the lung, but 90%-95% of cancers of the lung are thought to arise from the epithelial cells, the cells lining the larger and smaller airways (bronchi and bronchioles); for this reason, lung cancers are sometimes called bronchogenic cancers or bronchogenic carcinomas. (Carcinoma is another term for cancer.) Cancers also can arise from the pleura called mesotheliomas or rarely from supporting tissues within the lungs, for example, the blood vessels.