Mesothelioma - Stages in Mesothelioma Treatment
A Health Care Article Contributed by Kj Vohra
Different Stages of Mesothelioma
When it comes to the treatment of mesothelioma, you need to know about the stages of mesothelioma. The two types of mesothelioma, that is, pleural and peritoneal, each have different stages.
In the case of the pleural type, two staging systems are there - the TNM system and the Brighan system.
Pleural Mesothelioma Stages
Tnm System
The system more commonly in use is the TNM system. It is the more common method for cancer staging. It establishes the extent of the Tumor (T). It also establishes the extent of spread of cancer in the lymph nodes (N) and it also ascertains the presence of metastases (M). The data so obtained from TNM is then used to establish the stage, with stage 1 being the early stage and stage 4 being the last or advanced stage. The different stages can be described as:
- Stage 1: Only one layer of the pleura is affected, though it may have spread to the heart and diaphragm cover.
- Stage 2: At this stage mesothelioma has affected both layers of the pleura, but is on one side of the body only.
- Stage 3: Now mesothelioma has spread to the wall of the chest. It has also gone to the food pipe or even the lymph nodes on one side of the chest.
- Stage 4: At this stage, mesothelioma has gone to the bloodstream and affected other parts like the brain, the bone, the liver or to the lymph nodes even on the other side of the chest.
Brighan System
This staging is based on determining if surgery can remove mesothelioma and if the lymph nodes have been affected. There are four stages here as well:
Stage 1: In this stage, surgery can remove mesothelioma and lymph nodes have not been affected.
Stage 2: Surgery can remove mesothelioma but the lymph nodes have been affected.
Stage 3: Surgery cannot remove mesothelioma as the heart and chest wall or even the peritoneum have been affected. Lymph nodes could also be or may not be affected.
Stage 4: Just like in the case of TNM stage 4, the mesothelioma has affected the bloodstream and the heart, bone and liver
Peritoneal Mesothelioma Stages
Peritoneal Mesothelioma has no incorporated staging system. Whatever staging of cancer that is done is done by the TNM system. The TNM system is the most commonly used staging system.
Screening
Even before treatment is envisaged, screening is definitely desirable, so that early detection can help timely treatment. Unfortunately in the case of mesothelioma, no screening procedure is as yet in place. The doctors need to be sure of having an accurate testing procedure in place. No chances can be taken in faulty diagnosis and diagnosing mesothelioma in someone who does not have it - that would be disastrous. Mesothelioma is not very easy to diagnose. It has been seen though that when you conduct normal lung tests on mesothelioma cases, the tests turn out be negative.
The high risk people therefore should be identified. Keeping the above factors in mind, it would be sensible for you to visit your doctor if you have been exposed to asbestos.
