Of all the cancers caused by asbestos dust (mesothelioma), pericardial mesothelioma is the most rare, accounting for a fraction of all cases (5%). It is a cancer that grows on the pericardium (the lining of the heart). This is a delicate 'film', and any infection on the pericardium can have deadly consequences.
One time an individual has been diagnosed with pericardial mesothelioma they are offered three different treatment options. These are radiation, surgical procedure and chemotherapy. Pericardial mesothelioma is very difficult to treat (due to the intricacies involved in removing the tumours from the pericardium), and a patient's chances of survival are slim. All three methods have a poor success rate chiefly due to the fact that pericardial mesothelioma is detected in the mature stages of development. (The reason for this is because in the early stages of the cancer the signs resemble those of diseases such as pneumonia). The prognosis for a patient undergoing treatment at this point (mature stage) is usually less than a year.
Before treatment, the patient requires a doctor's evaluation in order to choose which of the three treatments are suitable for him/her. Details such as age, weight, medical history, and general well-being are thought about prior to the commencement of treatment. So, how do you treat pericardial mesothelioma ?
Radiation - As with all cancer treatments that use this process, huge doses of radiation are used to kill the cancerous cells on the pericardium. The downside to radiation treatment is that not only are you killing off the cancerous cells, but you are also damaging the vital organs in close nearness to the heart, namely the lungs. The heart also gets damaged (due to the huge doses of radiation).
Surgical procedure - They can break this down in to four parts; aggressive surgical procedure and palliative procedures. Aggressive surgical procedure involves the removal of the cancerous cell. Since these are close to the heart and lungs, this makes it an very precarious procedure and one that requires an very expert surgeon.
Palliative procedures are used in the latest of stages of pericardial mesothelioma and serve the sole purpose of reducing the signs. Usually at this stage the cancer is practically incurable.
Chemotherapy - This is the most widely-used of cancer therapies which involves the use of drugs to kill the cancerous cells. Regrettably, all of drugs used have a low success rate with pericardial mesothelioma. Research is being conducted to come up with a cocktail of drugs that have a more favourable outcome.
There does exist another type of treatment which involves using all three aforementioned treatment options. It is named Dual Therapy. Surgical procedure is used to remove the cancerous cells, then chemotherapy and radiation are used to kill the remaining cells. The success rate for this process is higher than using radiation, surgical procedure or chemotherapy alone, but can still be risky.
