Treatment for Mesothelioma


Your Consultant will advise you of a number of treatment options available to you once diagnosed with Mesothelioma. The best treatment for you will depend upon many factors such as:


  • age
  • progression of the disease
  • your general health, and
  • your feelings on the best treatment for you

You should discuss each option fully with your treating Consultant before making a decision.


3 treatment options exist for mesothelioma patients:


  • Surgery
  • Chemotherapy
  • Radiotherapy

Surgery


Pleurectomy (dicortication)


This procedure involves removing the lining of the lung. Its advantages include a quicker recovery time: which is useful for those patients whose health would prevent them from undergoing the other available surgical procedure. The disadvantages include increased risk of recurrence of the disease as the procedure is unable to remove all traces of the disease.


Extrapleural Pneumonectomy


This procedure involves removing the entire affected lung, the pleura (lining of the lung) and the pericardium surrounding the heart and the diaphragm. The hospital will only offer this treatment to patients who demonstrate good heart and lung function. Its advantage is that it aims at removing a larger proportion of the disease during surgery. The amin disadvantage is that it is a very radical procedure and more risk is involved along with a longer recovery time following surgery.


Chemotherapy


Chemotherapy treatment uses anti-cancer drugs, usually injected into the bloodstream. These drugs act to prevent the cancer cells from multiplying. Typically, to increase the effectiveness they will use a combination of drugs. Depending on the type of drugs used to treat you, treatment times can vary from, every week or every 2 or 3 weeks.


Chemotherapy treatment slows down the growth and spread of the disease and acts to control symptoms. The most common drugs used include Gemcitabine (Gemzar), Carboplatin (Paraplatin) and Cisplatin (Platinol). Recently, a new anti-cancer drug called Pemetrexed Disodium or Alimta has proven effective in controlling symptoms as well as extending the survival time of mesothelioma patients by, on average, one third.


Radiotherapy


Radiotherapy treatment is sometimes used to slow down growth and spread of the cancer and also to control the symptoms of the disease. It involves using high energy x-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumours. Radiotherapy has recently proven effective in preventing seeding which can cause recurrence of the tumour, at biopsy and chest fluid drainage sites of the patient.


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