Mesothelioma Treatment

Posts Tagged ‘chemotherapy’

Some treatments offered by alternative medicine include acupuncture for pain relief after surgery for tumor removal, ginger to treat nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, massage to treat pain of all types of cancers, and mistletoe extract combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of tumors. Immunotherapy, also called biologic therapy is also increasingly common. In this therapy, substances called biological response modifiers are used to improve the ability of the immune system recognize and destroy cancer cells, as well as to combat other diseases.

Photodynamic therapy uses a drug that sensitizes the tissue to light, then kills the cancer cells by exposure to a laser at a specific frequency. Gene therapy is a new, but the field development that is threatening diseases by altering the genes of an individual therapeutically. Herbal medicine, traditional practices of countries like China and Japan, and spiritual treatments are also used in complementary and alternative medicine. Not all of these therapies have the ability to directly affect the mesothelioma and its effects tend to vary according to the patient. However, they can be very helpful in managing symptoms and side effects during the use of conventional treatments.

Those interested in using complementary or alternative medicine in cancer treatment should ask their health care providers. It is important to get answers to some questions to consider any treatment, whether alternative or conventional. Information such as the expected benefits of therapy against the risks, potential side effects, and in the case of alternative or complementary treatments, whether the therapy interferes with the treatments you’re experiencing are useful.

Mesothelioma cancer is a rare form of the disease in which cancer cells develop in the pleura, peritoneum, or pericardium – the lining of the chest, abdomen and the area around the heart. This form of cancer is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos.

Peritoneal mesothelioma

Cancer is one-fifth to one third of cases are diagnosed. The symptoms of this type of mesothelioma include weight loss, swelling and pain in the abdomen due to fluid accumulation. Victims of other types of mesothelioma can develop pain in the chest wall, the fluid around the lungs, anemia, shortness of breath, or symptoms of anemia, cough, or the tendency to wheeze and cough up blood. In severe cases, can form tumors in the lungs or abdominal cavity, causing the collapse of the lungs.

While only a short period of exposure to asbestos, as little as one or two months, is required for this type of cancer that occurs, you can take a long time before symptoms appear. People who were exposed in the decade of 1940 are only now being diagnosed as mesothelioma cancer has a long latency period. If you are diagnosed with mesothelioma, the prognosis may vary according to how early it was detected. Research in alternative medicine and conventional therapies for the treatment of this disease continues. Conventional drugs used to fight cancer mesothelioma include Alimta and other chemotherapy drugs, surgery to remove tumors, and radiotherapy.

In addition to these treatments, a series of alternative medicine therapies may be able to reduce the symptoms of mesothelioma. Is called complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM, this group of doctors and health care options and practices are not considered part of general medical practice. However, that does not mean they are ineffective. Some health professionals practice both CAM and conventional medicine, and combine the two with good results. This is known as integrative medicine.

The pleura in a double layer covering the lung
The pleura is a membrane consisting of two thin sheets (visceral and parietal). They are the lungs and the inside of the chest cavity. In case of illness the space between the two pleural (pleural cavity) may fill with fluid, which causes breathing difficulties.

Asbestos case
It is assumed that about half of all malignant mesothelioma is caused by asbestos dust. Mesothelioma can develop decades after exposure to asbestos. If the asbestos dust may cause cancer should notify the appropriate accident insurance of the employer with whom the patient was exposed to dust, even if the patient is retired.

The lungs ‘walled’
The pleural mesothelioma is spread across the pleura and may invade nearby organs like the lungs or diaphragm. Arise breathing problems, coughing and chest pain. For the diagnosis is used in radiography, computed tomography or other methods of examination of the chest. It also collects fluid from the pleural cavity.

Surgery, radio and chemotherapy
The type of treatment depends on the spread of cancer. Typically, therapy is a combination of surgery, radio and chemotherapy. If pleural mesothelioma is diagnosed in a very advanced stage of recovery is not possible.

Pleural metastases
Much more frequent pleural mesothelioma are pleural metastasis, ie secondary tumors. Pleural metastases arise mostly from malignant tumors of lung, breast, stomach and esophagus.