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Importance of seeing a Mesothelioma specialist
Mesothelioma Care: No Place to Cut Corners
Mesothelioma is a rare disease that’s difficult to diagnose and treat. But when you hear the diagnosis for the first time, your own health and welfare may not be your biggest worry. Even before the shock wears off, your thoughts may turn to the financial impact mesothelioma will have on your family. In fact, you may put the financial welfare of your family before your own medical needs.
One of the ways you might try to ease the financial burden is going to a family physician for medical care—instead of seeking the expertise of a specialist at a dedicated mesothelioma- or cancer-treatment facility.
The Importance of Seeing a Specialist
It may be true that seeing your family doctor eliminates the extra costs of specialized medical treatment, travel, and related expenses. However, when it comes to a serious illness like mesothelioma, medical treatment is not the place to cut corners. If you have (or suspect you may have) mesothelioma, you may be able to enjoy a longer life or better quality of life by seeking the care of a specialist as soon as possible.
Following are three important advantages a specialist can offer you and others who suffer from mesothelioma.
1. Earlier Diagnosis
Because mesothelioma is a rare disease (only about 3,000 new cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year), primary care physicians may be unfamiliar with current diagnostic methods, which can result in a delayed diagnosis. As with any form of cancer, earlier detection of mesothelioma results in a better prognosis, while a delay in diagnosing the problem can have disastrous results.
In a recent Cancer Newsline podcast interview, Dr. Anne Tsao, assistant professor of Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, described how a doctor who finds a bit of fluid in a patient’s lung might prescribe antibiotics, only to discover a large tumor surrounding the patient’s lung months later. By then, it is often too late to surgically remove the tumor.
2. Greater Experience and Expertise
A specialist is a physician who has undergone extensive training in a specialty area, such as cancer treatment. Doctors who have met the requirements to be specialists are certified by specialty boards after passing an examination, which is administered by the board. Some specialists go even further, taking an additional year of training in a subspecialty, such as treatment of cancers of the lung.
General practitioners, family practice physicians, and primary care doctors are the foundation of good health care, and as a result, they must keep abreast of the latest research and treatments for a variety of common diseases. This leaves little time to devote to studying a rare disorder like mesothelioma. A mesothelioma specialist, on the other hand, treats nothing but mesothelioma, and therefore tends to be tuned in to the latest medications and treatments that benefit patients with mesothelioma.
3. Affiliations with Large Research Centers and Medical Facilities
Mesothelioma is a complex disease, and treatment may require the expertise of several specialists, such as a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, and a thoracic surgeon.
No matter what course of treatment is indicated for a specific case of mesothelioma, a specialist who is backed by the resources of a large research center or medical facility can refer you to appropriate subspecialties as necessary. They also have the ability to take advantage of state-of-the-art equipment and facilities that might not be available in a local hospital or clinic. Specialists who are affiliated with research institutions or medical centers may also have access to clinical studies of promising new treatments that offer hope for you and other mesothelioma victims.
Without specialized treatment, the median survival rate for a patient with mesothelioma is roughly nine months, according to Dr. Tsao. She encourages patients to find a doctor at a major cancer center, take part in clinical studies, and seek compensation from an employer or other known source of asbestos exposure to help cover the costs of treatment.
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