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Malignant Mesothelioma Treatment

Treatment for malignant mesothelioma is often dependent on how early the disease is diagnosed and how healthy the patient is at that time. The earlier mesothelioma can be detected, the wider the array of possible mesothelioma treatment there is available. Like mesothelioma diagnosis, mesothelioma treatment does not conform to a standard, established treatment programs. There are many options and their effectiveness varies from patient to patient.

Mesothelioma Treatment Options

• Chemotherapy
• Radiation Therapy
• Traditional Surgery
• Experimental Treatments

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy involves the use of specific anti-cancer drugs that destroy cancer cells. As the name implies, chemotherapy is the use of chemical medication to treat cancer. Chemotherapy can be administered locally, in the area where the cancer has affected the patient, or it can be introduced throughout the entire blood stream. This becomes effective if malignant mesothelioma has spread throughout the patient's body, rendering it inoperable.

Chemotherapy mesothelioma treatment is often used in combination with radiation therapy and surgery. If a patient's malignant mesothelioma is removed with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are typically used to prevent mesothelioma tumor re-growth and to kill any malignant mesothelioma cells not removed in surgery.

Some of the downsides to chemotherapy mesothelioma treatment are side effects and limited success. The chemicals used in chemotherapy are typically potent and can destroy healthy tissue along with cancerous tissue. Patients must be monitored closely to make sure that chemotherapy is doing more good than harm to the patient. When the negative effects of chemotherapy offset the benefits, or the malignant mesothelioma cancer stops responding to treatment, alternate medications or solutions must be found.

Chemotherapy has limited effects as a malignant mesothelioma treatment. Often, chemotherapy can only be expected to prolong life for a short time and different chemotherapy drugs and combinations have not proved highly effective against malignant mesothelioma.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is often used to treat cancer with varied levels of success. In the case of malignant mesothelioma treatment, radiation therapy has not been very effective. Malignant mesothelioma is often treated with radiation therapy in combination with chemotherapy and surgery. Studies have shown that radiation used in combination with other treatments yield longer survival rates than radiation therapy alone. It is often used to shrink the size of mesothelioma tumors in treatments to alleviate pain. Like, chemotherapy, radiation therapy has negative side effects as well. In some cases, these side effects, including hepatitis, myocarditis, pneumonitis and other disorders, may cause more harm than benefit provided by radiation therapy.

Surgery

There are several surgical procedures used in the treatment of malignant mesothelioma. Surgical mesothelioma treatments focus on diagnosis of the disease and removing tumors and cancerous tissue from the body. Surgery is also used to drain fluid build-up in the chest.

Malignant mesothelioma treatment by surgery can range from the removal of parts of the pleura surrounding the lungs, to complete removal of an affected lung, pleura, pericardium, diaphragm, and other tissue (extra-pleural pneumonectomy). Candidacy for this major surgery usually requires mesothelioma to be in its first stage and for the patient to be under 55-years-old. Since this mesothelioma treatment is complicated and risky, extra-pleural pneumonectomy is only considered on the healthiest mesothelioma patients.

Pleurectomy is a less radical procedure that doesn't remove a lung, but only a portion of the affected pleura, can help ease breathing and can be performed on older patients. This procedure is less risky and usually increases survival duration when combined with other forms of mesothelioma treatment.

It should be noted that surgical mesothelioma treatment has not been proven to be more successful than non-surgical options. Often combination mesothelioma treatments prolong survival rates the longest. If current treatments are ineffective or present too many side effects, mesothelioma patients may also consider emerging and experimental treatments.

To learn more about developments in mesothelioma treatment and to find out how to fight back after being diagnosed with mesothelioma, contact The Law Offices of David A. Shaw.

Experimental Mesothelioma Treatment

Many scientists, researchers and doctors are working to find new and more effective ways to treat malignant mesothelioma. There are several different approaches being researched in the field of treating and diagnosing malignant mesothelioma, some of which may be promising for future treatment.

Experimental drugs that have been studied and have been found to be beneficial in the treatment of mesothelioma include:

• Onconase
• Alimta (pemetrexed)
• Cisplatin
• Endostatin & angiostatin
• Celebrex
• Gemcitabine

Some of these drugs have become accepted forms of mesothelioma treatment, while others are in varying (and sometimes very early) stages of malignant mesothelioma treatment and diagnosis research.

Other experimental treatments are being studied to fight mesothelioma and cancer in general. These new treatments often employ innovative new methods of delivering drugs to cancer cells or using the immune system or vaccines to kill malignant mesothelioma cancer cells:

• Photodynamic Therapy
• Gene Therapy
• Intrapleural interferon Gamma

Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy for the treatment of malignant mesothelioma and other forms of cancer uses light and photosensitizers to treat cancer. In this form of therapy, a drug that targets cancer cells and is sensitive to a specific wavelength of light is injected into the patient several days before photodynamic treatment and/or surgery. A special light is then applied to the cancerous tissue through fiber optics or during surgery. Once the light activates the photosensitizer, it releases a form of oxygen that kills the cancer cells. Photodynamic therapy has been effective in killing cancer cells, destroying blood vessels that feed tumors, and creating a response in the immune system that targets and kills mesothelioma cancer tissue.

Gene Therapy

Gene therapy has already been used to treat malignant mesothelioma and new forms of mesothelioma treatment are being studied. Gene therapy involves the use of disabled viruses, or other active delivery methods, to bring an enzyme or protein that is toxic to malignant mesothelioma cells directly to the cancer cell itself. Viruses used to deliver the killer agents to the cancer cells specifically target the malignant mesothelioma and attack it with an implanted anti-cancer gene. This method has proved to help slow the progression of malignant mesothelioma. Further research is being conducted on isolating genes and using gene therapy to disable a mesothelioma tumor's ability to develop and its ability to form necessary blood vessels.

Intrapleural Interferon Gamma

This form of immunotherapy is similar to gene therapy in its approach to mesothelioma treatment in that it involves introducing proteins to kill cancer. These proteins stimulate the body's "killer" T-cells to develop and attack specific cancer cells. Basically this treatment causes the body's immune system to recognize malignant mesothelioma and destroy it, instead of allowing it to develop. Certain types of these immunotherapy drugs have been effective against mesothelioma and have had few negative side effects.

To find out more about your options for clinical trials, mesothelioma treatments and whether you are entitled to compensation for you and your family, contact a mesothelioma attorney today for a case review.

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