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Pericardial Mesothelioma

What is Pericardial Mesothelioma?

MesotheliomaPericardial Mesothelioma is a rare form of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer difficult to diagnose. It is estimated that pericardial mesothelioma is 0.7% of all cases of mesothelioma. In the U.S. of the approximately 3,000 cases of mesothelioma diagnosed, there are an estimated 1-2 cases a year. Although very rare, the diagnosis of primary pericardial mesothelioma, is the leading cause of primary malignant pericardial tumors.

History of Pericardial Mesothelioma

There are case reports in the literature from 1957 of reports of patients with pericardial mesothelioma. The number of patients that are diagnosed is small. The small number of patients that have been affected makes studying this condition a challenge. Case reports in the literature over the past 20 years have reported on the course of treatment of specific patients. A recent article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, published in January of 2017, reviewing the literature from 2000 to 2016 reported on a total of 103 patients that had been diagnosed and treated.

Symptoms of Pericardial Mesothelioma

The symptoms of pericardial mesothelioma are a cough, dyspnea, chest pain. The patient can also have fever, night sweats, weight loss and generalized weakness. All of these symptoms are found in conditions that are common to other diseases. As the disease progresses it can directly invade nearby structures and cause a compression of vital mediastinal structures. The disease comes from the pericardial mesothelioma cell layers. The cell types that have been reported are epithelial, spindle cell, and mixed.

Types and Stages of Pericardial Mesothelioma

Treatment has been individualized, as with pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma, multimodality therapy has been tried. There is no consensus on treatment. Surgery has played a role. The surgical procedures that have been used include removal of the tumor if possible. Pericardial window, is used to relieve the symptoms of constrictive cardiac mesothelioma. Chemotherapy has been tried after surgery. Radiation therapy has not been found to be successful with this condition. The goal of treatment has been to remove all the tumor and to relieve the symptoms to improve the quality of life of the patient.

Occurrences: Recent reports have the average age at diagnosis was 55, with an age range of 19 to 87. The percent of males affected has been 61% while 39% of females.

Causes: Presumed exposure to asbestos has been reported in some case studies.

Treatment

The prognosis for pericardial mesothelioma once diagnosed can be six weeks to 15 months. Recent case reports have reported some individual patients surviving longer. One report in the literature from 2014, a 59-year-old woman, had surgery for primary malignant pericardial mesothelioma, epithelial type, and lived for almost 3 years, without symptoms, before she died. Treatment is varied depending on cell types and health of the patient.
Patients that underwent surgery to resect their tumor had a longer survival time than patients that had a pericardectomy to relieve the symptoms. Chemotherapy with Pemetrexed or Cisplatin was also identified as contributing to longer survival time.

Exposure to asbestos has been reported in patients with primary pericardial mesothelioma. In a study done in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, published in 2011, investigators found 8 cases of pericardial mesothelioma, over 9 years. Of the 8 cases of pericardial mesothelioma 6 were men and 2 women. The average age was 55.5. Of these 8 patients, they were able to research the back grounds of 7 of the 8- of those 7 there was documented occupational asbestos exposure.

Primary pericardial mesothelioma is a very rare form of mesothelioma. The symptoms are common, diagnosis is difficult. Only 25% of primary pericardial mesothelioma is made before the patient dies. The remaining 75% are confirmed on autopsy. Treatment options are limited. The importance of being treated in a mesothelioma center for the best treatment options is strongly encouraged.

Options

Due to the rarity of this disease it is imperative for the patient to get to an experienced mesothelioma center, with experts in the field for the latest treatments to optimize their outcome.

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Asbestos Exposure Information

 

Did You Know?

  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    The highest award of compensatory damages ever upheld on appeal in a mesothelioma case is $30.3 million.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    The largest punitive damages verdict ever upheld on appeal in a mesothelioma case is $18 million.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    There are over $30 billion in asbestos trust funds to compensate victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    There are more than 50 bankruptcy trusts accepting claims to compensate victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    There are many “asbestos dockets” that permit living mesothelioma patients to obtain a jury verdict in less than 1 year.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    In 2015, more than 2000 mesothelioma cases were filed in the United States.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    In some mesothelioma cases, settlements can be obtained in less than 1 year.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    Thousands of different companies have been defendants in mesothelioma cases over the past 40 years.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    According to a 2015 study of 77 peritoneal mesothelioma cases, the average life expectancy (median survival period) was 75.7 months, or over 6 years.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    According to a 2015 study of 77 peritoneal mesothelioma patients, 73.8% were living after 3 years, and 65.3% were living after 5 years.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    According to a 2015 study of 77 peritoneal mesothelioma patients, 64% were treated with HIPEC and cytoreductive surgery.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    According to a 2015 study of 303 pleural mesothelioma patients, the average life expectancy (median survival period) was 18.4 months.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    According to a 2015 study of pleural mesothelioma patients, 73.1% were still living after 1 year, and 22.9% were still living after 3 years.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    In 2015, the largest number of mesothelioma cases were filed in the following 10 courts: (1) Madison County, IL; (2) Cook County, IL; (3) St. Louis, MO; (4) Los Angeles, CA; (5) New York, NY; (6) Philadelphia, PA; (7) New Castle County, DE; (8) Middlesex County, MA; (9)Middlesex County, NJ; (10) Kanawha County, WV.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    The states with the largest number of diagnosed mesothelioma cases are: New York, New Jersey, California, Washington, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    There are about 3000 mesothelioma cases diagnosed in the United States each year.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    About 1 in 100,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the United States.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    More than 80% of all mesothelioma cases occur in the pleura (pleural mesothelioma).
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    Less than 20% of all mesothelioma cases occur in the peritoneum (peritoneal mesothelioma).
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    About 22% of all mesothelioma cases occur in women.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    A history of asbestos exposure can be found in more than 80% of mesothelioma cases.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    More than 30% of all mesothelioma patients in the United States were exposed to asbestos in the military.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma can be caused by laundering, or other household contact with, work clothing contaminated with asbestos.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma can be caused by work with (direct exposure) or around (bystander exposure) asbestos-containing products.
  • Mesothelioma Facts
    Mesothelioma Facts
    The average time between a person’s first exposure to asbestos and the development of mesothelioma (latency period) is more than 40 years.
 

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If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, please contact us to see if we can help you get the compensation you deserve from the billions of dollars in asbestos trust funds available now for qualified asbestos victims. With just one call, you can put all our experience and success to work for you.

We have represented thousands of victims of mesothelioma and their families in virtually every State in the country and in decades of work have recovered billions of dollars in financial compensation for our clients.

Call us now at 1-888-568-1177, fill out the form on this page or chat with a live person. The consultation is free and it costs nothing upfront to hire the lawyers behind MesoLawyersCare. We only get paid if you collect a settlement or verdict and you will never receive a bill from us.

 

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