MESOTHELIOMA TREATMENT

If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, remember that time matters. The faster you consult your doctor and get professional care the better your chances will be of dealing with this dangerous cancer. There are three traditional methods of fighting cancerous mesothelioma: surgery, chemotherapy drugs and radiation therapy. Please contact your doctor as soon as possible to get more information.

Surgical Treatment:

Before any mesothelioma surgery is considered for the treatment of malignant mesothelioma, the patient's overall health is carefully evaluated. Tests are performed to make sure the patient has no metastatic disease (cancer spread to distant sites) and to evaluate the patient's lung and heart function. Lung function often is reduced patients with pleural mesothelioma for several reasons. The pleural effusion (fluid collection) and the tumor mass caused by mesothelioma can compress the lung. Also, the patient's exposure to asbestos may have decreased lung function, which also decreases with age. In addition, some patients have a history of smoking cigarettes, which further decreases lung function.

Surgery for malignant mesothelioma can be aimed at long-term control (aggressive surgery) or relief of symptoms (palliative procedures).

Aggressive Surgery (Long Term Control) :

Extrapleural pneumonectomy involves removal of the pleura, the lung, the diaphragm and the pericardium. The intent of this very aggressive, complicated surgery is to remove as much of the tumor as possible. Not all mesothelioma hospitals will perform this procedure because of its complexity and because it carries a high risk of death within 30 days after surgery. Extrapleural pneumonectomy typically is performed only in younger patients in good overall health with Stage I disease. Patients are evaluated carefully to determine their ability to tolerate the surgery. (Important Note: Surgeons at different mesothelioma hospitals have different criteria for staging as it relates to acceptance for surgery. Therefore it is important to check with each mesothelioma hospitals to determine if you meet the surgery criterias.)

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, involving use of high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors may be used. Radiation therapy aims to attack the cancer cells in the affected treated area. The radiation may be administered externally from a machine or by introducing radioactive materials through thin plastic tubes directly to the area where the cancer cells are found - this is known as internal radiation therapy.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer in order to attack and kill the cancer cells. These anti-cancer mesothelioma drugs are administered by injection directly into a vein.

Paracentesis

The symptoms of mesothelioma can be painful and are caused by a build up of fluid in the chest or abdomen. A procedure may be recommended to drain this fluid and help reduce these painful symptoms. This procedure of removing fluid from the chest is called thoracentesis. Removal of fluid from the abdomen is called paracentesis.

New Treatments for Mesothelioma

There have been ongoing clinical trial sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to find new and more effective treatments. This process allows doctors to determine how safe and effective these new treatments are before recommending them to other patients. Participation in clinical trials is an option that may be offered to patients with mesothelioma. Your doctor will advise if this is appropriate.

More information is available at cancer.gov clinical trials and from the Cancer Information Service