Pericardial Mesothelioma is the cancer of pericardium, a protective membrane that surrounds the heart. As with other forms of the disease, pericardial mesothelioma is always fatal. Although pericardial mesothelioma life expectancy is difficult to predict – and largely determined by individual factors such as general health – usually most patients die within a year of diagnosis.
For some types of cancer, there are staging models doctors use to determine the progress of the disease. These include pleural mesothelioma, another deadly form of malignant mesothelioma. Unfortunately, because of the extreme rarity of cases of pericardial mesothelioma, there is no staging model for this type of cancer. This makes it difficult to predict the pericardial mesothelioma life expectancy of a patient.
What is Pericardial Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is the serous mucosal carcinoma of an organ. It is caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers. There are three main types of the disease: pleural mesothelioma, peritoneal mesothelioma, and pericardial mesothelioma.
Researchers know less of the pathology of pericardial mesothelioma – as it is formed and progresses, and the nature of the disease itself – compared to other forms of mesothelioma. Some experts believe that the asbestos fibers enter the blood stream, travel into the heart and remain in the heart bag, but this remains to be demonstrated.
Pericardial Mesothelioma Statistics
The three types of mesothelioma are extremely rare and pericardial mesothelioma is the rarest. The statistics on mesothelioma are very different, but when he says that from two to three thousand cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year between 0.7% and 10% of the pericardial variety.
Because pericardial mesothelioma is so rare, even less research is done on this type of mesothelioma than in other species. As result statistics on the life expectancy of patients with pericardial mesothelioma are difficult to find and relatively inconsistent. The average survival time for patients with mesothelioma as a whole can range from four to 18 months, according to the American Cancer Society. Five to ten percent of patients live five years or more.
What are the factors that influence Pericardial Mesothelioma Life Expectancy?
Individual circumstances play the most important role in predicting a patient with mesothelioma. This can be a variety of factors, including the following:
- General health
- nutrition
- years
- Smoke
- symptom
- Blood related factors
- The tumor size
- Location of the tumor
- Visibility of the tumor
- Resectability of the tumor (ie whether or not it can be removed)
- Lymph nodes (whether the cancer has spread to them)
Another potentially important factor is the type of cancer found in diseased tissues cells. There are three types of mesothelioma cancer cells: sarcomatoid, epithelioid and two-phase. In general, tumor patients including epithelioid cancer cells have a better survival rate than those with the other two types of cells, two-phase cells being the deadliest.
Being diagnosed with Pericardial Mesothelioma can be devastating. Unfortunately, the truth is that most people with this terrible disease have little time to live diagnosed. Although some treatments try to extend the life of mesothelioma patients (eg, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, trimodal therapy), most focus on reducing symptoms and making life a little more pleasant.