Mesothelioma Treatment

Posts Tagged ‘Type of cancer’

Chemotherapy can be given in several ways:

Oral (by mouth in pill form)
Intravenous (IV, through a vein as a short infusion or continuously for one or more days)
As an injection or needle
Directly into a body cavity (ie, bladder, abdominal cavity)
Intra-arterial (in special cases, such as treatment of limb perfusion for melanoma)
Doctors often combine specific and non-specific chemotherapies so as to complement and work together. This combination of different medications is called a “regime”. These regimes are often given names based on the first letter of the medications used in them. For example, CHOP, a common regime for lymphoma, consisting of Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide), adriamycin (hydroxydoxorubicin ), Oncovin (vincristine) and prednisone. This combination is given in “cycles” (blocks of time). For example, a cycle may be 21 days, and in the case of poplar, cytoxan, adriamycin and oncovin given on day 1, prednisone on days 1-5, followed by 16 days off (without treatment) and then begins again with the next cycle.

Chemotherapy is called a “systemic” therapy, meaning it travels through the body, unlike surgery or radiation therapy who are “local”. Doctors also use terms to describe when the chemotherapy is given in the sequence of treatments: Read the rest of this entry »

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.