Peritoneal mesothelioma is so rare and the disease has such a long latency period (time between asbestos exposure and diagnosis) that it usually is diagnosed when it is in the latter stages.Typically, a patient will visit their family doctor complaining of symptoms that are mistaken for a less serious condition. After several visits and no improvement from the prescribed mesothelioma treatments, diagnostic tests will be run such as x-rays, MRI or other procedures.
Those procedures may show fluid or a mass in or near the peritoneum. During a surgical procedure, a specialist will remove some of the fluid or tissue from the mass (this procedure is called a biopsy) and it will be examined by a laboratory.Palliative therapies - these treatments typically include pain medication and surgeries to remove fluid or bulky tumors. Peritoneal mesothelioma is always fatal. Palliative treatments are meant to ease the patient’s pain and discomfort but do nothing to cure or slow the disease.
Some people may also find prayer, meditation, yoga, herbal and nutritional supplements, a strict diet, or oxygen therapies comforting or helpful in some manner, but no scientific evidence indicates these alternative palliative treatments do anything to slow or cure the disease.
Curative therapies - currently, there is no cure for peritoneal mesothelioma. Curative treatments aren’t meant to cure the disease. Rather, they are meant to slow the progression of the disease and help the victim have survive longer. Curative treatments for mesothelioma are the same as most other cancers and include surgery to remove tumors and cancerous tissues, chemotherapy, and/or radiation.
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