Thursday, July 17, 2008

Some Important Info about Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is comparatively rare type of cancer which is generally detected in people who have experienced exposure to asbestos for a long time in their life. It is said that this particular type of cancer occurs due to the microscopic fibers of asbestos that damage the internal lining that covers the various organs of our body. They make the cells of the membrane divide unusually and form tumors. They can be either benign or malignant. This disease often does not limit itself to the affected area and spread in the other organs as well. It can be treated in the conventional ways at the earlier stages which is not helpful when it comes to saving the life of the ailing person.

Statistics of Mesothelioma Patients

This is not as common as blood cancer or skin cancer and generally affects the workers from industries like glass, brick, asbestos sheet manufacturing, construction and site engineering, welding and insulation etc. Approximately 2000 to 3000 mesothelioma cases are detected in the United States of America every year. The number of mesothelioma cases went very high during the years of 1970 and 1990. Now it is quite stable as precautions has been taken by the government to reduce the risks of mesothelioma. But still there are around 1.3 million people are coming into direct contact with asbestos every year in States due to their occupational requirements. In fact this is the reason why the rarest form of this disease, pericardial mesothelioma is no longer a rare one.

Various Facts about Mesothelioma

This is very rare that you will find any young person suffering from mesothelioma. This is observed mostly in people from the older age group who are between 50-70 years. The reason behind this is that the asbestos fibers are harmful enough to damage your mesothelium gradually and often show up even after withdrawing yourself from direct contact to asbestos. Researches show that this disease attack men 5 times more frequently than women. White Americans are more prone to this disease than the Afro-Americans. Generally mesothelioma cannot be identified at the earlier stages; hence the opportunity of curing a patient is very less. The average time that an affected person gets to survive is 1 year. But with the advancement of medical technologies, the survival rate is gradually going up to 5 years.

Apart from the common treatment modes like immunotherapy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the new technique of multi-modal therapy is being adapted to treat the patients. Palliative treatments are also popular for their pain reducing effect. The legal facilities and compensation structuire related to this disease has also improved satisfactorily under the preventive and compensation laws introduced by the government.

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