Mesothelioma Treatments

Mesothelioma Treatments

mesothelioma treatment options: radiation therapy
Mesothelioma treatments are divided into two categories: traditional mesothelioma treatments and new mesothelioma treatments. Traditional treatments for mesothelioma are the same as those used to treat most other cancers, and include:
*Surgery
*Chemotherapy
*Radiation therapy (radiotherapy)
New treatments for mesothelioma include:
*Development of new chemotherapy agents
*Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)
*Photodynamic therapy (PDT)
*Immunotherapy
*Gene therapy

Surgery

This type of mesothelioma treatment can be performed on mesothelioma patients for one of two reasons: in an attempt to cure the disease or for palliative reasons in order to keep the patient more comfortable and improve the quality of life. Unfortunately, because mesothelioma is almost always diagnosed in its late stages, curative surgery is not usually an option.
Probably the most important decision in devising a treatment plan for mesothelioma surgery. If the disease is diagnosed early enough and if the patient is healthy enough, surgery may be performed in an attempt to remove much or all of the malignant tissue. This is the most aggressive treatment choice, because it is a major effort to halt the growth of the disease by removing damaged tissue and the malignant cells that are causing the damage. Surgery is the first step in attempting to “cure” a case of mesothelioma.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill cancer cells. External beam radiation therapy uses radiation delivered from outside the body that is focused on the cancer. This type of radiation therapy is often used to treat mesothelioma. These mesothelioma treatments are much like getting a diagnostic x-ray except for a longer time.
In an aggressive combined modality approach, radiation is used to attack microscopic or residual disease remaining in the chest cavity after extrapleural pnuemonectomy. An example of this is Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), which uses x-rays of varying intensities in conjunction with computer generated images to deliver targeted radiation directly to cancer cells while reducing the amount of radiation to surrounding healthy tissue. More on Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT).
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Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs for treating cancer. The drugs can be swallowed in pill form or they can be injected by a needle into a vein or muscle. Chemotherapy is systemic therapy. This means that the drug enters the bloodstream and circulates throughout the body (through the whole system) to reach and destroy the cancer cells.
Like radiation, chemotherapy provides no cure for mesothelioma but can go a long way in providing relief from the horrendous symptoms of the disease. As researchers continue to test different combinations of chemotherapy drugs, patients continue to benefit from their findings, and someday, chemo may go a lot further in prolonging the life of a mesothelioma victim.
Photodynamic Therapy
This type of therapy involves the use of light energy to kill cancer cells. In photodynamic therapy treatment, the patient is given an intravenous solution of a medication that makes cancer cells highly sensitive to a particular kind of light.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a type of mesothelioma treatment in which the patient’s own immune system is ‘tricked’ into killing cancer cells. A healthy, normally-functioning immune system does not kill cancer cells, because even though these are diseased cells, the immune system is unable to recognize them as being harmful.
Gene Therapy
Gene therapy involves using genetic material to specifically target cancer cells and make them more vulnerable to chemotherapy treatment. When undergoing this type of mesothelioma treatments, the patient is treated with a non-infectious virus that has been altered with genetic material that makes them produce a particular protein.
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Mesothelioma Treatments