Does Mesothelioma Come Back After Going Into Remission?

Healthcare is so expensive that some people spend years paying off bills from accidents and illnesses from which they have long since made a full recovery, but chronic illnesses, from which the patient is never truly cured, are even more financially devastating. With a chronic illness, you can have good days and bad days, and some entire years are better than others, but the diagnosis remains part of your life forever. When you are not having symptoms, and when markers of the disease are not detectable on diagnostic tests, you are said to be in remission. People whose lab tests show them to be cancer-free after they have undergone treatment for cancer are said to be in remission; once you have cancer, you are always at a higher risk of getting a new cancer diagnosis than someone who has never had cancer before. Different types of cancer have different recurrence rates; mesothelioma has one of the highest. If you are in remission after finishing mesothelioma treatment, a Houma mesothelioma lawyer can help you afford past and future medical bills.

What is a Cancer Recurrence?

When cancer goes away, such that it is no longer detectable on blood tests, imaging scans, and tissue biopsies, it is said to be in remission. After surviving cancer, you will need to go back to your doctor every year to make sure that you are still in remission. If your blood tests show cause for concern, your doctor will do more tests.

Doctors categorize cancer recurrences according to the area of the body where they occur. If the new cancer is on the same organ of the body as the previous one, it is a local recurrence. If it is on a different organ but close enough, the cancer cells might have spread from the old tumor to the new location without circulating through the bloodstream. If it is far from the original site, it is considered metastatic. The recurrence rate varies from one type of cancer to another; for bladder cancer, it is about 50%. Pediatric leukemia has a recurrence rate of less than 10%, as do certain kinds of breast cancer. A type of brain cancer called glioblastoma has a recurrence rate of almost 100%.

Mesothelioma Recurrence Rates

Malignant mesothelioma has a high rate of recurrence, but as treatments improve, the recurrence rate gets lower. Most recurrences are local (on the pleurae) or regional (in another part of the chest cavity). With any kind of cancer, the earlier it is detected, and the sooner you start treatment, the lower the chances of recurrence are.

Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey About Being Able to Afford Mesothelioma Treatment

Do not let the hefty price tags stop you from getting the most up-to-date mesothelioma treatments. A mesothelioma lawyer can help you exercise your rights and use available resources to obtain compensation to cover your mesothelioma treatments. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana, to set up a consultation about your case.