Mesothelioma Treatment

Posts Tagged ‘Combination therapy’

Treatment for mesothelioma depends on the patient’s health and some aspects of cancer, including stage and location. Unfortunately, mesothelioma is usually an aggressive disease and most patients there is no cure. Mesothelioma is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage when it is not possible to remove the cancer through surgery. Your doctor can work to control cancer and the patient more comfortable.

Discuss treatment goals with your doctor. Some people want to do everything possible to treat cancer, even if it means enduring the side effects of a small room for improvement. Others prefer treatments that make them feel comfortable so they can have the best quality of life without symptoms time of life left in them.

- Surgery
Surgeons try to remove the mesothelioma cases are diagnosed in time. Sometimes it is not possible to remove all the cancer. In such cases, surgery may help reduce the signs and symptoms caused by the spread of mesothelioma in the body. Surgical options may include:

Surgery to decrease the fluid: pleural mesothelioma can cause a buildup of fluid in the chest, causing difficulty breathing. The surgeons inserted a tube or catheter into the chest to drain fluid. Doctors can also inject drugs in the chest to prevent fluid from coming back (pleurodesis).

Surgery to remove the tissue surrounding the lungs or abdomen: Surgeons can remove the tissue covering the ribs and lungs (pleurectomy) or the lining of the abdominal cavity (peritonectomy) to relieve the signs and symptoms of Mesothelioma.

Surgery to remove as much cancer as possible (debulking): If you can not remove all the cancer, surgeons try to remove as much.

Surgery to remove a lung and surrounding tissue: The removal of the affected lung and surrounding tissue can relieve the signs and symptoms of pleural mesothelioma. If you receive radiation therapy to the chest after surgery, this procedure also allows physicians to use higher doses because they do not have to worry about protecting the lungs from the harmful radiation.

- Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses chemicals to kill cancer cells. Systemic chemotherapy travels throughout the body and can reduce or slow the growth of pleural mesothelioma that can not be removed through surgery. Chemotherapy can also be used before surgery (neoadjuvant chemotherapy) to facilitate operation or after surgery (adjuvant chemotherapy) to reduce the possibility of cancer returning.

The compounds of chemotherapy also can be heated and administered directly into the abdominal cavity (intraperitoneal chemotherapy) in case of mesothelioma peritoneal or chest cavity (intrapleural chemotherapy) in case of pleural mesothelioma. With this strategy, mesothelioma chemotherapy can reach directly without harming healthy cells elsewhere in the body. This allows doctors to administer higher doses of chemotherapy drugs.

- Radiotherapy
Radiation therapy given high energy beams such as X-rays to a specific spot or spots on the body. Radiation can reduce the signs and symptoms in patients with pleural mesothelioma. Radiation therapy is sometimes used after a biopsy or surgery to prevent mesothelioma to spread to the surgical incision.

- Combination therapy
Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be used in various combinations to treat both pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma.

- Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are studies of new methods of treatment of mesothelioma. People with mesothelioma may opt for the opportunity to try new types of treatment. However, the cure is not guaranteed. Carefully consider treatment options and see what clinical trials may be options for you. Participation in a clinical trial may help doctors better understand how to treat mesothelioma in the future.

- Treatment for other types of mesothelioma
Pericardial mesothelioma and mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis are rare. Early-stage cancer can be surgically removed, however, doctors have yet to determine how best to treat cancers later in life. Your doctor may recommend other treatments to improve quality of life.

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.