Mesothelioma Treatment

Archive for the ‘Surgery Treatment’ Category

This property has been suggested that stem cells could be useful in medical treatment, and many nations have established funds for stem cell research to explore the possibility of stem cell and development. Stem cells are special cells in multicellular organisms that are capable of differentiating into a wide range of cells as needed.

In other words, non-specialized cells themselves, as blood cells, nerve cells, and so on, but they can make specialized cells to form an embryo or repair of damage to an adult organism.

This property has been suggested that stem cells could be very useful in medical treatment, and many nations have established funds cells mother to explore research and stem cell development.

All organisms multicellular s actually start as a group of stem cells. As cells divide and multiply, differentiate to the organs, muscles, bones, and so on until an embryo is formed. Adults also have stem cells, although its exact origin is unknown. These adult stem cells function in response to a serious injury to replace damaged tissues.

There are three types of stem cells. Stem cells are embryonic stem cells taken from an embryo , stem cells from umbilical cord, which is rich in stem cells, as it is of fetal origin. Adult stem cells are also known as somatic stem cells and are found in a variety of locations around the body of an adult. The exact science and the distribution of adult stem cells remains a subject of intense research.

To be considered a stem cell must possess two properties. The first is that the cell should not be specialized for a specific action, but should be able to generate specialized cells. In addition, stem cells may replicate many times with errors, a process known as proliferation. Read the rest of this entry »

The best treatment option for you depends on many factors, including your age, overall health, cancer stage, cell type (which determines the aggressiveness of the cancer) and most importantly, your personal desires. To help you evaluate these options, you will have a “multidisciplinary team (MDT) of doctors who will discuss your case and afford the best treatment option.

Members of this team may include a cardiothoracic surgeon, a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a specialist in pain management and palliative care specialist. The nurses and other health workers could also be involved in your care.

Conventional treatment of mesothelioma offers several options, and you should discuss fully each with its EMD before making a treatment decision. Be sure to inquire about risk factors, prognosis with treatment, possible side effects and quality of life that offers each of the options.

Surgery

There are two surgical approaches to mesothelioma, pleurectomy / decortication (P / D) and extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). These are highly specialized surgery and may not offer all the facilities. Not all thoracic surgeons are experienced in these types of surgeries.

The ultimate goal of these procedures is to remove as much mesothelioma, with the certainty that will Microscopic traces of the disease. Adjuvant therapy, which uses additional forms of treatment with primary therapy, usually has the goal of eliminating residual disease. The most common forms of adjuvant treatment is chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Pleurectomy / decortication is considered the least radical of the two methods because it involves only the removal of the pleura (lining of the lung) without resecting the underlying lung. In some cases, removed the pericardium and diaphragm, depending on the extent of the tumor.

The advantages of this procedure is usually a shorter recovery time and usefulness in patients who may not tolerate the NEP. Disadvantages include a higher risk of disease recurrence by the inability to remove all the cancerous tumor and the inability to use the high-dose adjuvant radiation because of the possible risk to the underlying lung.

Extrapleural pneumonectomy is a radical procedure that involves removing the lung, the pleura (the lining of the lung), the pericardium surrounding the heart and part of diaphragm. During surgery, the pericardium and diaphragm are reconstructed with Gortex-like material. Patients may be candidates for this surgery only if they meet certain criteria of stages of cancer development and show adequate pulmonary and cardiac function to tolerate the procedure.