This is because of the fact that symptoms for pleural Mesothelioma can be easily detected, such as the hoarseness of voice, shortness of breath and chest pain. Whereas, by the time peritoneal or pericardium Mesothelioma is diagnosed, it has already reached a very advanced stage and abnormal cells start affecting the surrounding tissues as well.
Mesothelioma occurs when malignant cells develop in the mesothelium which is the protective lining that surround’s the body’s internal organs, such as the lung, heart and stomach. It is known as pleural Mesothelioma when it affects the lung, pericardium when it affects the sac near the heart and peritoneal when it develops in the abdominal cavity.
It arises when foreign particles, such as asbestos dust or fibres, settle in the linings of these organs and damage the cells that are present within. Those cells then divide abnormally and the cancer spreads. This disease has a higher rate of occurrence in male as compared to in females because men are more likely to being exposed to asbestos because of their occupation.
When I checked John’s medical report, I had my doubts. He had worked three years as a mine worker and that caught my eye. Asbestos is a widely used substance in mining and power stations. He was careless on his first visit as most of my patients were and kept saying that it was nothing much but few bouts of coughs. I saw the hoarseness of voice too and the dark circles around his eyes.
Clearly, he had been exerting himself too much. On the first visit, I asked a lot of questions about his work at the power station and his answers did not erase out the possibility of what I was thinking about the matter.
He paid me his second visit soon and claimed that he had also developed a pain in his chest. I examined him. He looked worried. When asked, he said he had never had any major diseases before and as far as he could remember there were none in the family as well. The symptoms had started to appear. I asked him to undergo a chest X-ray and gave him a date of the third appointment.
The third visit presented a clearer picture. His health had not improved and the X-ray showed signs of pleural thickening, which happens when the patient has been exposed to asbestos and is a sign of Mesothelioma. I told him so and asked him to take a CT scan.
The CT scan exposed grim results. It confirmed that there has been a build up of fluid in his lung cavity. Cytology confirmed the presence of abnormal cells and chest drain was carried out to aspirate the fluid that had been built up. I performed a thoracoscopy and obtained tissue samples from the patient’s chest. The biopsy confirmed that he had pleural Mesothelioma.
Conventional therapies usually give a survival period of up to 12 months but they have rarely proven successful. I asked John to undergo pleurectomy which is a surgery in which the lining of the chest is removed. I did not recommend extrapleural pneumonectomy in which the lung, the lining of the inside of the chest and the pericardium are removed, as his Mesothelioma was localised and had not affected other areas.
After the surgery, I recommended radiation treatments. Radiation has proved effective in patients who suffer from localized diseases and these treatments have produced results that show that they increase life expectancy. However, patients have to suffer from some side-effects like burns. The radiation treatments may be external (from a machine) or internal (when radiation emitting materials are inserted in the infected area through a tube).
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