Diffuse epithelioid mesothelioma affects the lining of the organs, including the lungs, stomach, or heart. This type of mesothelioma is the most common, accounting for approximately 70% of cases. This form of cancer may be referred to as either epithelial or epithelioid mesothelioma.
Diffuse epithelioid mesothelioma cells tend to cluster together in groups. Each cell is cubic or square in appearance. The nucleus, which is the part of the cell that has genetic material, is visible in every cell. (asbestos.com)
Diffuse epithelioid cells do not have a high degree of mobility and adhere to one another, so they are less likely to spread than sarcomatoid cells. That is one of the reasons that diffuse epithelioid malignant mesothelioma has the best prognosis of all mesothelioma cancers.
Early symptoms of this form of mesothelioma are cough, shortness of breath, and poor appetite. As the disease gets worse, more serious symptoms can appear: (Cancer.org)
To accurately diagnose this form of mesothelioma, several steps are required. Many patients have delays when they feel symptoms and getting a proper diagnosis.
All of the above can make it challenging to obtain a tissue sample. Only a tumor biopsy that is usually gotten with thoracoscopy or thoracic surgery will result in the accurate identification of epithelial surgery.
To minimize the delays in your diagnosis, it is vital to share your asbestos exposure history with your doctor. If he or she knows you were exposed to asbestos, they are more likely to consider that you have an asbestos-related illness.
Fortunately, of the several types of the disease, diffuse epithelial mesothelioma responds the most favorably to treatment. Patients who have been diagnosed with the disease tend to have more treatment and clinical trial choices.
Common treatments for epithelioid mesothelioma include the following:
As noted above, surgery is one of the best options for this type of mesothelioma. If you are diagnosed at an earlier stage of mesothelioma cancer, you may be eligible for a pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) and extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). These surgeries involve removing as much cancerous tissue as possible from the lung and tissue around the lung.
In 2018, clinical investigators released a detailed analysis of data that is in the National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank. Compared with the other types of the disease, people who have the epithelioid version of the disease have a prognosis that is approximately 200 more days. If the disease is caught early, the survival rate could be increased by years.
The median survival rate for epithelioid patients was 18 months, and 10 months for people with the biphasic cell type. It is only seven months for people that have a sarcomatoid version of cancer.
If you have epithelioid malignant mesothelioma, you will have access to more aggressive types of treatments and more innovative clinical trials. This is especially the case if the patient is being seen at a cancer center that specializes in mesothelioma.
Subtypes of this type of cancer have different shapes, structures and sizes. All of them contain epithelioid cells, but these subtypes could react differently to different forms of treatment. (mesotheliomaguide.com). Some of the subtypes are:
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