Pleural Mesothelioma

Pleural mesothelioma is a rare cancer often diagnosed in people who have been exposed to high levels of asbestos. The malignancy affects the pleura, a thin membrane of lubricating cells that lines the lungs and chest wall. It sometimes takes ten years or more for changes to appear that are indicative of pleural disease, and even longer for symptoms to manifest. These differences can include a thickening or calcification of the pleural lining—a condition commonly diagnosed as pleural plaques. Conditions like pleural calcification or the development of pleural plaques often serve as precursors to mesothelioma.

In most instances, pleural disease is not considered fatal but it can cause diminished lung function and mayconfirm that a person has sustained significant asbestos exposure. 

Patients diagnosed with pleural conditions are generally considered to be at a higher risk for developing the more severe pleural mesothelioma.

Pleural mesothelioma originates in the pleura but can quickly spread to the outer chest wall, abdomen, and heart. 

Pleural mesothelioma is typically fatal within one year of diagnosis. However, understanding and recognizing key risk factors, like asbestos exposure, will typically lead to early detection of the cancer. Those individuals who are fortunate to receive an early diagnosis are likely to be more eligible for life-sustaining treatments such as surgical resection of the cancer. 

This type of treatment can extend a patient’s life years beyond that of a typical mesothelioma patient.

While there is no cure for pleural mesothelioma, treatment options do exist for this type of cancer. There are ways for patients to control the disease through tumor management including traditional radiation and chemotherapy methods. 

These methods can ease symptoms of the disease and make a patient more comfortable. In patients where a diagnosis is made of early stage disease, mesothelioma surgery can extend the survival rate far beyond previous levels in untreated disease.

Treatment and Tumor Management

Nearly all patients diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma are able to receive some form of treatment for their illness. While there is currently no cure for mesothelioma, patients have been able to extend initial prognosis through advanced mesothelioma treatment regimens currently being developed at clinics and cancer centers across the United States.

Surgery

Surgical resection is difficult in pleural mesothelioma patients when the disease is diagnosed in later stages because at that time the tumor has typically metastasized to other areas of the body such as the abdominal cavity and lymph nodes. 

However, in early-stage diagnoses, surgery can absolutely be utilized to slow the advance of mesothelioma disease.

Common surgical procedures utilized in the management of malignant mesothelioma are pneumonectomy and extrapleural pneumonectomy. Pneumonectomy is a general procedure conducted not only in patients with malignant mesothelioma, but in those battling lung cancers or related lung conditions. 

Pleurectomy involves the removal of either a portion of the lung or the entire affected lung in patients. Extrapleural pneumonectomy is a more comprehensive procedure that is typically tailored to mesothelioma patients and involves the removal of the entire affected lung, the pleura, the diaphragm, and the pericardium, which is the mesothelial lining that surrounds the heart cavity.