The Maune Raichle Law Firm

Deciduoid Mesothelioma

Deciduoid is a rare variant of epithelial mesothelioma. Deciduoid cases have been linked to asbestos exposure, but are more commonly seen in young women who have never been exposed to asbestos. As awareness of the link between asbestos exposure and the development of mesothelioma has increased, cases of mesothelioma unrelated to asbestos exposure are often overlooked. Deciduoid mesothelioma accounts for only a small percentage of all mesothelioma cases, but deciduoid mesothelioma is still a very significant disease.

Currently, deciduoid mesothelioma is without any promising curative treatment and continues to have a very grave prognosis. While other forms of mesothelioma are now seeing many new treatments develop, researchers and doctors have yet to have any significant breakthrough regarding the treatment of deciduoid mesothelioma. Currently, diagnosis usually does not occur until later stages of the cancer as early stages can often be asymptomatic. Researchers are still looking to identify a cause or set of risk factors associated with deciduoid mesothelioma, but remain unsuccessful.

Cases of deciduoid mesothelioma are most commonly seen in the peritoneal mesothelium but have also been seen in the pericardial and pleural mesothelia. Being a unique morphologic variant of epithelial mesothelioma means that many treatments which have seen success with the treatment of other mesothelioma cancers are not able to show similar results when applied to deciduoid mesothelioma. It is also such an aggressive cancer that even with treatment, the mean survival time after diagnosis remains around a year with no current prospect for immediate improvement.