In What Ways Is Mesothelioma Treated ?

Mesothelioma is a terrible cancer which affects the lining that covers the majority 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. This is the reason as to why we tend to see a lot of people getting diagnosed with this terrible disease now, in the 21st century. Many more will discover they have mesothelioma in the years to come. 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 .

Being that mesothelioma is a cancer, the same methods used to treat any other cancer are also used to treat mesothelioma. Depending on the stage of the cancer itself, as well as the medical history of the patient, doctors can decide on the appropriate treatment for the patient. One can expect either one, or a combination of the following; radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery. Due to the intricacies involved in the treatment of mesothelioma, the prognosis after treatment isn't very good. A patient's prognosis is usually a few years at the most .

In order to attempt to increase one's chances of survival doctors these days tend to use all three known treatment methods. This is commonly 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.

During trimodality therapy chemotherapy is the first treatment to be administered . The drugs used in chemotherapy are given either orally or intravenously. The main objective of this is to greatly slow down the growth of malignant mesothelioma. Following 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

Last on the list is radiation where high-energy x-rays are used to kill off any remaining cancer cells.

Scientists are currently researching new treatment methods in hopes of obtaining better results . These include gene therapy, IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy), photodynamic therapy (PDT), and immunotherapy .