Mesothelioma Surgery

Mesothelioma is a rare but fatal cancer which is caused by exposure to asbestos, fibers of which if inhaled can be extremely dangerous. When these fibers are inhaled they go into the alveoli of the lungs and become lodged there.

Over a period of time tissues and cells become abnormal because of the fibers and they end up causing mesothelioma cancer. There are several types of mesothelioma cancers out of which Pleural mesothelioma is the most common, accounting for almost 75% of all mesothelioma cases.

Following pleural mesothelioma, peritoneal mesothelioma is the next most common accounting for about 20% of the cases and the remaining 5% are accounted for by pericardial mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma affects the outer lining of the chest cavity and lungs, peritoneal mesothelioma affects the peritoneum, which is the lining of the abdomen and pericardial mesothelioma attacks the tissue surrounding the heart and since all three types of mesothelioma cancers affect vital areas of the human body, this makes the cancer difficult to treat.

Due to the possibility of damaging vital organs such as the heart or the lungs there are strict radiation dosage restrictions for treatment methods such as radiation therapy.

Only the strongest of mesothelioma patients undertake aggressive mesothelioma surgery since weaker patients would risk death within the first 30 days after operation. The patient will be evaluated by an experienced doctor before surgery is recommended. Age, disabilities, medical record, weight, allergies and even sex are taken into account before deciding upon surgery.

The procedure of mesothelioma surgery consists of cutting open a patient and removing the malignant cells from the area under attack which can be the abdomen, heart or the lungs. The surgery has to be performed by extremely skilled surgeons since the cancer is so close to vital organs of the body and there is a chance that the patient may die during surgery.

Palliative procedures is another type of mesothelioma surgery which is far less hazardous than the aggressive from of the surgery but it does not try to gain long term control over the cancer where as the aggressive form on the surgery does. When it is almost certain that the patient will inevitably die because of the cancer, Palliative procedures are performed to lessen the symptoms.

Dual therapy, where Mesothelioma surgery is coupled with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, has proved to be highly effective and has one of the highest success rates for treatments of mesothelioma cancer. It involves a patient undergoing surgery to remove majority of the cancerous cells and then radiation therapy and chemotherapy are used to kill off the remaining cells.