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How Asbestos Causes Mesothelioma

Author: http://www.PainsAway.info

Mesothelioma is a cancer that occurs in the lining of the lungs. Contact with asbestos is a cause of asbestosis and mesothelioma. Each year an average of 3000 cases of asbestosis are reported in the USA.

Some eight million (mostly over the age of 25) with enough exposure to asbestos in the last 50 years to have been diagnosed with Mesothelioma cancer.

Safety measures have been put into place in the past 20 years once it was recognized that asbestos was such a risk and to protect people from exposure to it in their homes, schools and work places.

Experts though do say the number of cases of mesothelioma should around 2020 and then decline as materials in buildings and work places will be void of asbestos by then.

Of course, as with any cancer, early detection and treatment is imperative if there’s any hope of survival. However, mesothelioma patients are at a disadvantage in this area, because symptoms take anywhere between 20 and 50 years to manifest after the exposure. Because of this, patients are older, usually over 50. In addition, first symptoms can masquerade as many other less serious ailments. This makes diagnosis quite difficult. Because of this, the cancer is quite likely to be advanced once it has been detected. There is no fully effective treatment available. However, most experts believe that combination therapy increases survival rate versus monotherapy. Research into mesothelioma treatment continues.

Studies on survival of mesothelioma patients show that the disease has a fatality rate of almost 100%. Once diagnosed with mesothelioma, the average survival rate stands roughly six months to two years. There have been exceptions, which continue to give hope to other mesothelioma patients and their families. Life expectancy is dependent on many things, including its stage at diagnosis (mesothelioma has four stages, with four being the most advanced) and the type of mesothelioma diagnosed. Tests conducted on the tissue structure of mesothelioma cells found that sarcomatous cells’ existence meant a median survival rate of about 11 months, 11 months for mixed cells, and 12.5 months for epithelial cells.

However, that said, there are other things that influence mesothelioma survival rate. Mesothelioma has a survival rate of about 9% five years after diagnosis, which means there are most definitely people who do survive long-term with this disease. Some of those people are symptom free. And of course, research continues to be done so that one day a cure may be available.

One of the things that influences survival rate is health at the time of diagnosis. Obviously, if you’re healthier at the time of diagnosis, you’re probably going to have a better chance of beating the disease or at least surviving long-term versus someone who is in poor health. The size of the tumor also matters, as does the amount of fluid in the chest cavity. If the tumor can be completely removed, this also improves the survival rate. The type of cells present (as described above) also matter. If this is a recurrence, then survival rates are likely to be poorer than those of a first diagnosis.

If you have mesothelioma, or if you have a family member who does, don’t give up hope. The Internet abounds with resources for those with mesothelioma and their family members. These resources are invaluable, because not only do they allow you to provide support and encouragement to others in the same situation, but you are also privy to the latest developments in treatment. Thus, these types of resources can make an unbearable situation at least easier to deal with. And of course, your health care practitioner will also likely have resources for you. …