Mesothelioma - Treatments for an Incurable Disease Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive form of cancer. In most cases, the prognosis is very poor at the time of diagnosis. In general, patients have not a lot more than twelve months to live following a positive mesothelioma diagnosis. Hence, the treatment options for such an aggressive and rapidly developing disease are very limited. Mesothelioma treatment is usually palliative. Quite simply, the goal of treatment is simply to relieve the individual of the pain associated with the mesothelioma. There isn't any hope of curing the patient from the disease for several reasons:
Mesothelioma Glossary(i) Diagnosis occurs very late in the growth and development of the condition. By the time diagnosis is made there is no hope for the patient.
(ii) The introduction of the disease is very rapid and affects key organs like the heart and also the lungs.
Surgery
Surgical procedures or cytoreduction involves the removal of any almost all visible tumor. In the event of mesothelioma, this really is generally combined with chemotherapy to provide a far more effective removal of cancerous cells. Some surgical operations try to cure the patient completely especially if the cancer continues to be localized. In many other cases, surgery may only possess a palliative effect because the cancerous mass is reduced. The following kinds of surgical treatments are utilized in mesothelioma treatment:
(i) Pleurodesis: insertion of the irritant within the pleural space causing an inflammatory reaction; this closes down the pleural space thus preventing build-up of fluid (pleural effusion). Most symptoms associated with pleural mesothelioma could be abated with this method for some time. A thoracoscope can be used with this.
Mesothelioma Questions & Answers(ii) Pleurectomy or peritonectomy: elimination of part of the chest lining or abdomen lining (depending on where the cancer is).
(iii) Decortication: elimination of any area of the membrane covering an organ.
(iv) Pneumonectomy: elimination of the entire affected lung (generally, mesothelioma develops on just one lung to ensure that elimination of that lung may cure the patient if the cancer hasn't spread).
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy requires the administration of drugs that destroy cancerous cells. Chemotherapy within the treatment of mesothelioma might have the following objectives:
(i) Shrinking of tumors just before surgery (neo-adjuvant chemotherapy).
(ii) Destruction of cancer cells after surgery (adjuvant chemotherapy).
(iii) Increase the effectiveness of radiotherapy (immunotherapy).
Chemotherapy can also be utilized in cases when the cells of cancer have spread past the initial site of occurrence. It is also used in which the patient isn't a candidate for surgery.
The most used drug for mesothelioma is pemetrexed which is an inhibitor of numerous proteins that are required for DNA synthesis and cell replication.
Chemotherapy has various negative effects because in the process of destroying cancer cells healthy cells are also harmed.
Radiotherapy
This refers to the management of cancer by using penetrating beams of high energy. In the case of mesothelioma, radiotherapy can be used in conjunction with surgery so that they can cure or to control severity of symptoms. An example of radiotherapy may be the Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) which uses computer generated images to focus on cancer cells directly with limited impact on surrounding tissue.