How Is Mesothelioma Treated?

Mesothelioma is a deadly cancer that attacks the lining that covers most of our organs, the mesothelium. It is caused by the inhalation of asbestos dust, a compound that was used in the construction industry several years ago. Mesothelioma tends to manifest itself more than 30 years after an individual has been exposed to asbestos. That is why we tend to see a lot of people getting diagnosed with this terrible disease now, in the 21st century. Many more will continue to be diagnosed. Asbestos was used up until the 1970's. Mesothelioma has also been associated with irradiation, intrapleural thorium dioxide, and the inhalation of other fibrous silicates.

Since mesothelioma is a cancer, the same methods used to treat any other cancer are also used in the treatment of mesothelioma. Depending on the patient's medical history and the stage of the mesothelioma, doctors can decide on which treatment would be best for the patient. One can expect either one, or a combination of the following; chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Due to the intricacies of mesothelioma, the prognosis after treatment tends not to be very good. A patient's prognosis is usually a few years at the most.

In order to try and prolong a patient's life as much as possible doctors these days tend to use all three methods of treatment. This is known as trimodality therapy. This has proven to increase one's survival time by up to 5 years. Without this it is a year at most.

With trimodality therapy chemotherapy is the first treatment administered. The drugs used in chemotherapy are given either orally or intravenously. The aim of this is to halt the growth of malignant mesothelioma. After chemotherapy comes surgery, where any tumor mass is removed. Surgery is performed in four stages;

wide local excision
pleurectomy and decortication
extrapleural pneumonectomy
pleurodesis
postoperative radiation therapy

The last method is radiation where high-energy x-rays are used to kill off the cancer cells.

New methods of treating mesothelioma are currently being researched. These include gene therapy, IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy), photodynamic therapy (PDT), and immunotherapy.

Visit Nkeno's site about Mesothelioma Treatment for more information.

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