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About Pericardial Mesothelioma



Mesothelioma is a type of disease which people are not very familiar with. This is not only because of the limited population of people who are affected by the disease. It is also because of the many different kinds of mesothelioma that a patient might be affected by. One of the rarest forms of mesothelioma which you can be diagnosed with is pericardial mesothelioma. It is so rare in fact that only ten percent of those who are diagnosed with mesothelioma are diagnosed with this type. The more you get to know about the disease, the more prepared you will be should you ever encounter it.

There are a few things you should get to know about pericardial mesothelioma. You should get to know things like what causes the cancer in the first place. You should also know about the symptoms of the disease as well as the treatments for the disease. While it is unlikely that you will have to worry about encountering this disease, it is always a good idea to make sure that you are prepared. This is especially true if you have already been diagnosed with anything like pleural mesothelioma.

Causes of Pericardial Mesothelioma

The only known cause of this kind of cancer is due to asbestos exposure. It is not yet understood how the cancerous cells make their way into the fibers of the heart. It is understood that the disease usually follows other kinds of mesothelioma like pleural mesothelioma. There are cases in which the mesothelioma shows up first in the heart as a direct result from the exposure the patient has had to different asbestos products including building material in offices that were built before the health risks of asbestos were understood.

Symptoms of Pericardial Mesothelioma

Often by the time you are feeling any symptoms of pericardial mesothelioma, the disease has already taken hold and you are facing a grim prognosis. The symptoms to watch for include pressure in the chest, trouble breathing and pain in the chest. If you feel these things, you will need to see your doctor about getting a biopsy and diagnosis. It is important to remember that you will not be able to have any tumors removed from the pericardial tissue because this will cause irreparable damage to the tissue of the heart and will lead to death.

Treatment of Pericardial Mesothelioma

While there is no cure for mesothelioma, there are many different techniques which have been developed which will help you to deal with the symptoms you might be suffering from. Often doctors will use a combination of different approaches in order to help you in dealing with the symptoms. One of the main methods which are use is radiological treatments. Chemotherapy is another popular method of slowing down fluid production. Removal of the fluids around the heart is another method which is used in order to alleviate pain and pressure being felt in the chest area. To get started on treatment methods, iht is important to see a mesothelioma doctor as soon as possible.
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Impact On Mesothelioma

Researchers and experts are concerned about the possible impact of the 9/11 disaster on mesothelioma in the coming years and decades.
It is generally agreed that the large amounts of asbestos released during the 9/11 disaster will have a substantial impact on the number of new mesothelioma cases in the United States in years to come.
9/11 concerns over new mesothelioma cases are further complicated by the fact that it usually takes 20 to 40 years after asbestos exposure for mesothelioma cases to start developing. Currently there are about 3,500 mesothelioma cases being treated annually in the country.
And even where mesothelioma does occur, it is not known exactly how many of these patients will be actually treated because there is usually a large number who are misdiagnosed as having metastatic adenocarcinoma which is another different form of cancer. This could further worsen the impact of 9/11 on new mesothelioma cases over the next couple of decades.
Then there are the usual problems that hinder treatment of mesothelioma like the medical community not bothering to refer patients to centers where potentially curative treatment can be given because it is generally believed that the disease has no known cure. The truth is that although mesothelioma experts are far from having a cure for all patients, recent developments of more effective treatments including radical surgery and advanced radiotherapeutic modalities now offer much better odds for longer survival to patients suffering from mesothelioma.
Before 9/11, researchers had expected the number of new mesothelioma cases to peak in the next few years and probably begin to fall. More so because of the major asbestos control initiatives of the 1970s.
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