Mesothelioma is a lethal disease that is generally caused by prolonged asbestos exposure. This rare type of cancer spreads by damaging the mesothelium which is the covering of body’s vital organs such as lungs, abdomen, heart etc. This allows cancer to grow along mesothelium as well as to the organs that it protects. It may take as long as 50 years for mesothelioma to develop, however after repeated or close asbestos exposure it can develop in just a few years. Despite the fact that mesothelioma cancer can not be cure completely, but there are several treatment options that can be used to alleviate mesothelioma symptoms.
Surgery
Doctors and oncologists will suggest surgery after determining the line of treatment. However, surgery is considered as the best treatment option for mesothelioma patients because it can effectively alleviate mesothelioma symptoms. As mesothelioma prognosis is very poor and is usually diagnosed at its advanced stages. This will make a surgical cure difficult in most cases. During mesothelioma surgery removal of cancerous cells from lung lining is performed, some surgeries remove fluid from the lungs or keep fluid from entering the lungs.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is an effective treatment option for mesothelioma that helps ease symptoms and shrink tumors. Chemotherapy drugs are usually injected either into the abdominal or chest cavity to mesothelioma patients. Doctors often recommend a combination of Almita (premetrexed) with cisplastin as these drugs have shown strongest effects on the disease even with mesothelioma not treatable by surgery.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is also prescribed for mesothelioma patients to ease mesothelioma symptoms. Radiation therapy can be administered in a few different ways, but mesothelioma patients usually receive external beam radiation. In this type a beam of radiation sends to the area of the body affected by the disease. Courses of radiation usually go on for five weeks. Radiation therapy is usually recommended for the patients who are too ill to undergo surgical procedure or chemotherapy.
Trimodal Therapy
Two or three treatments such as surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy are also recommended for mesothelioma patients. This combination approach is usually recommended for patients who are healthy enough to endure two or more treatments.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is the treatment with biological response modifiers which help stimulate the body’s own immune system to combat the disease. It helps to regulate metabolic reactions that promote growth of cancer, prevent spread of cancer, block or reverse processes that lead to formation of cancer or alter cancer cell division, ultimately enhance the functions of the immune system.
Gene Therapy
Gene therapy is another promising way to treat mesothelioma in which genes are introduced into the body to replace the genes found in cancer cells, or to stop the growth of blood cells that feed the cancer, or to replace the bad genes that allow the cancerous cells to aggressively grow.
With all these treatment methods, life expectancy and quality of life of mesothelioma patients can be improved.
