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New Gene Test to benefit Surgery Patients of Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a sleeper disease that affects individuals some 20 to 30years after their first exposure to asbestos. When exposed to asbestos, its fine particles find its way into the lungs where it becomes logged within its cell structure. The irritation resulting from the asbestos being lodged in the cells, the body releases cytokines that act as mediators to relieve the irritation. The subsequent interaction with the asbestos particles sets off a chain reaction of chemical processes that end up in malignant transformation and cancerous cells.

Mesothelioma Treatment

Over the years, most mesothelioma treatment has been restricted to chemotherapy, medication and surgery. One of the main reasons for the narrow treatment options is due to the nature of the disease. Diagnosis of the disease is often made at the last stage of the disease where it is non-reversible. In it early stage, most symptoms of the disease are similar to those of other respiratory complications. As a result, most doctors will exhaust these treatments before investigating if there was any asbestos exposure. These methods of treatment however have their associated side effects resulting in continuous research being conducted to facilitate early detection of mesothelioma and prevent treatments such as surgery.

New Gene Test for Mesothelioma

A recently published report in National Cancer Institute journals have revealed that scientist have developed new types of gene testing that can be used to identify indicators and determine information about mesothelioma patients. Dr. Raphael Bueno and his staff at the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in Boston have been quite successful in carrying out various test that are able to more accurately indicate the most likely outcome of surgery as a result of mesothelioma. This as a result of intense work to discover less invasive methods of predicting the mesothelioma prognosis of related surgery where test were performed on over 120 mesothelioma patients who were referred for surgery.

How does Mesothelioma Gene Test Work

Previously, most analysis of mesothelioma cancer cell involved the removal of some of the affected cells and the prognosis given based on the development stage of the cancerous cells. The simpler method of prognosis of post-surgery symptoms involves the comparison of four gene sets that had the same characteristics as those were taken from patients that had positive results from their operation. These were then crossed referenced with some from those who had adverse results after operation. As a result, an analysis can be done on patients contemplating operation where they can then advise them on the success potential of their operation.

Success Rate of Gene Tests

So far, the gene test prognosis has been very successful in predicting the possible outcomes of mesothelioma surgery. So far, over 120 patients have been assigned either “good” or “poor” outcome based on the characteristics of their gene pool. The method has received many positive reviews from other practitioners of the medical profession as it reduces the need to extract tissue for analysis resulting in significant savings for mesothelioma patients.

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