Pleural Mesothelioma
Nov 11, 2006
Pleural mesothelioma spreads within the chest cavity, sometimes involving the lung. Metastases can occur in any organ, including the brain, and are much more common than previously thought.
The onset of mesothelioma is usually very slow, the most common presenting symptom is persistent pain localized in the chest. Sometimes the pain is accompanied by severe difficulty breathing, due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space known as pleural effusion. Cough, weight loss and fever are not uncommon. The most valuable single test to show the extent of the disease is a computed chest tomograph (CT-scan).
There are currently no serum markers available for the diagnosis of mesothelioma. The detection of elevated serum levels of hyaluronic acid may be useful in differentiating mesotheliomas from other tumors, or to follow the effect of treatment.
The median survival is about 17 months from the beginning of symptoms. The 3-year survival is 10% the 5-year survival is approximately 5% ( if 100 patients are diagnosed with mesothelioma at a specific point in time, that means that 10 patients will still be alive at the end of 3 years and 5 patients will only be alive at the end of 5 years).
The onset of mesothelioma is usually very slow, the most common presenting symptom is persistent pain localized in the chest. Sometimes the pain is accompanied by severe difficulty breathing, due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space known as pleural effusion. Cough, weight loss and fever are not uncommon. The most valuable single test to show the extent of the disease is a computed chest tomograph (CT-scan).
There are currently no serum markers available for the diagnosis of mesothelioma. The detection of elevated serum levels of hyaluronic acid may be useful in differentiating mesotheliomas from other tumors, or to follow the effect of treatment.
The median survival is about 17 months from the beginning of symptoms. The 3-year survival is 10% the 5-year survival is approximately 5% ( if 100 patients are diagnosed with mesothelioma at a specific point in time, that means that 10 patients will still be alive at the end of 3 years and 5 patients will only be alive at the end of 5 years).
