Pericardial Mesothelioma Treatment

Pericardial mesothelioma is a very serious form of mesothelioma. Pericardial mesothelioma is almost undoubtedly caused by asbestos exposure. The nature of mesothelioma caused by asbestos is that the cancer appears dormant for many years while developing. It is almost impossible for someone to know that they have pericardial mesothelioma until the late stages of the cancer. For that reason, treatment can be very difficult for pericardial mesothelioma.

Asbestos causes cancer after it has been inhaled over prolonged periods of time. Doctors know that asbestos is the cause of pericardial mesothelioma, but they are unsure exactly what the route is that asbestos fibers travel to the pericardial lining. They believe it is likely that the asbestos fibers enter the blood stream and become trapped in the heart as they try to pass through.

For these reasons, the prognosis for most cases of pericardial mesothelioma is quite bleak, similar to most all cases of mesothelioma. Doctors recommend certain treatment options to help patients manage the pericardial mesothelioma and to increase their comfort levels. The most common pericardial mesothelioma treatments are chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

For most patients with pericardial mesothelioma, mesothelioma surgery is not a viable treatment option because the tumors are located in the heart. There is added danger and risk in trying to operate on the area.

Although the prognosis is bleak for most patients with pericardial mesothelioma, there have been a few cases in which the pericardial mesothelioma has been diagnosed early and surgery may be performed to extract smaller and more localized pericardial tumors. This type of surgery as a treatment option for pericardial mesothelioma can be very risky because of the nearness to the heart.

The overall prognosis for those with pericardial mesothelioma is grim, and for the most part, pericardial mesothelioma treatments are kept to palliative treatments which are meant to offer added comfort to those suffering from the painful disease. Palliative pericardial mesothelioma treatment is designed to improve the patient’s quality of life and reduce the extreme pericardial mesothelioma symptoms and side effects.

One such palliative pericardial mesothelioma treatment is called fine needle aspiration. It is one method of removing excess fluids which have built up in the pericardium. In some cases, doctors may use radiation therapy as a pericardial mesothelioma treatment, but due to the proximity to the heart and lungs, it can be very risky. Sadly, for the most part all treatment for pericardial mesothelioma is palliative. The majority of patients pass away within six months of their pericardial mesothelioma diagnoses.