epithelial mesothelioma
About 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the United States. Once a patient receives a diagnosis of cancer, your doctor most likely to discuss prognosis or likely development and result of the disease with the patient.
Factors determining the prognosis
Most often the diagnosis of mesothelioma is done when the cancer has reached an advanced stage, since it usually takes a very long time after contact with most of the victims of asbestos before beginning to show symptoms associated with the disease.
In addition to this, but when symptoms This cancer does finally surface, they often resemble the symptoms of general diseases such as pneumonia, influenza and some other lung diseases. This, together with the delayed onset of symptoms makes the diagnosis of mesothelioma must be very difficult.
Thus, as a result of these factors, the prognosis for most patients is poor, but many doctors recommend treatment options such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy for help to combat the disease.
The factors that affect prognosis include:
A) The stage of cancer:
Medically progression Cancer is classified as stages. The stages range from the first stage to stage four. The higher the stage of the most advanced cancer. Unfortunately, a Once cancer has reached stage three to stage four, the treatment options become limited and less effective. In the fourth stage of cancer, the cancer has spread to other parts of the body and the tumor often has eaten deep into various key organs and tissues in the body. Stage 4 is not suitable for surgery. In general, the higher cancer stage is the worse the prognosis.
B) The histological type of cancer:
Histology refers to the cell structure base and the type of cancer. Histologically, there are four types of mesothelioma: a) epithelium, b) sarcomatoid c) (mixed-phase) (d) desmoplastic variant of sarcomatoid)
Epithelial mesothelioma has a better prognosis than other types and how sarcomatoid has the worst prognosis.
C) Age and general condition of the victim
Malignant mesothelioma is often diagnosed in people over 55 years of age, although exceptions may occur. So some of the victims had diseases developed chronic associated with aging such as diabetes and hypertension and worsens prognosis.
D) The size of the tumor
E) The location the tumor and whether the tumor is operable (if it can be surgically removed)
F) The extent of other symptoms, including fluid in the lungs or abdomen.
G) or not the patient is a smoker.
When discussing the survival rate of any cancer, often made references to "five years survival rate. Survival rate at five years is the percentage of patients who live at least five years after receiving his diagnosis. According to the American Society Cancer survival in five years relative survival rate for mesothelioma is approximately 10%. the number has improved over the last five years from the 9% reported in late 2002.
Overall, the average duration of survival than in the past five years has been 10-11 months after diagnosis.
About the Author:
Bello Kamorudeen .For more information on mesothelioma go to http://www.mesotheliomacorner.blogspot.com
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Mesothelioma Prognosis – What Are Your Chances?
Epithelial Mesothelioma
