Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by
contact with asbestos, a carcinogen. The disease attacks the lining of the lung
or the lining of the abdominal cavity. It can be difficult to deal with this
type of cancer and find decent mesothelioma info online. This article will
outline some of the main treatment options available to deal with the disease.
The more knowledge you have about this disease, the better.
Most people searching for
mesothelioma info are looking for information regarding the different
treatments currently available to those affected by the cancer. The type of
treatment you receive for it depends on many factors, including cancer stage,
location of the disease, and how far it has spread. It also depends on how the
cancer cells look under the microscope. Your age and personal wishes are
another factor to consider. Although this disease is very dangerous, there have
been successful treatments.
There are three main treatment types
for those who have been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma - surgery,
chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Surgery physically removes the cancer,
while chemotherapy using drugs to kill the cancer. With radiation therapy
treatment high doses of x-rays and other high-energy rays are used to target
and kill the cancer. In your search for reliable information, you may have
already discovered that in many cases, two or more of these methods are used to
beat the cancer.
One of the surgical procedures that
can be performed on mesothelioma patients is called palliative surgery, which
involves treating the symptoms of the without going after the disease directly.
Palliative treatments often include drainage of the chest tube and pleurodesis
- the buildup of fluid is usually what first alerts patients to the reality of
their situation. After the fluid has been initially drained, it often returns
and patients have to undergo more procedures to permanently remove the
remaining fluid. The pleural space must be closed to prevent future problems
with fluid buildup.
If you want to know more about
mesothelioma info, it's important to realize that other procedures are designed
to cure the disease, rather than for palliative reasons. The goal of this type
of surgical procedure is to remove the whole of the cancer - but take note that
with the surgical removal of the cancer microscopic remnants of the disease are
always left behind and have the potential to grow back after the surgery has
been completed. It takes time, but you have to realize that this is a strong
possibility with surgical treatment procedures.
For this very reason adjuvant
therapy is carried out after the surgical procedure to minimize this
possibility. This method of treatment is administered in addition to the
primary surgery to remove residual disease.
For patients in the early stages, a
pleurectomy/decortication is usually the route taken to remove the tumor. If
the doctors can't remove the entire tumor without removing the lung, the lung
will be taken out (this is referred to as a pneumonectomy). As science
progresses, there are other options for treatment, including gene therapy,
immunotherapy, and photodynamic therapy.
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