Treatment For Mesothelioma

Written by admin on May 3rd, 2008

Treatment For Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a kind of permanent cancer disease. Mesothelioma
cancer occurs when tissues of our lungs or abdominal components
get affected. In more cases asbestos exposure was identified as
the reason for mesothelioma disease. Symptoms of mesothelioma may
not appear immediately after it’s exposure, it takes time between
twenty to thirty years. This enables the disease identification
process a critical one.

Treatments for mesothelioma depends on the stage of the cancer,
the specific part being affected, the total amount of space being
affected, how long one have the problem, the look of the cancer
cells under microscope and the age factor of the patient. These
are the factors that are being considered before choosing the
treatment option.

Treatments for mesothelioma include Surgery, Chemotherapy and
Radiation Therapy.

Surgery: There are two types of surgeries available one is
aggressive surgery and another one is called palliative
procedures.

Aggressive surgery is done through a procedure named extra
pleural pneumonectomy, by which the pleura, the lung, the
diaphragm and the pericardium are removed. The aggressive
surgery’s motive is to remove as much mesothelioma tumor as
possible.

Palliative procedures will be done when the mesothelioma disease
is at the matured stage. The motive of this procedure is to give
relief to the patient from the symptoms.

Chemotherapy: In chemotherapy drugs are being used to treat
mesothelioma cancer. The drugs may be in the form of pills or
injections. To improve the results of chemotherapy some drugs may
be used as mix in some proportion and this has given a good
improvement in the treatment results.

Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy uses radiations to kill
mesothelioma tumor. This procedure is complex to undergo as the
tumors are surrounded by sensitive parts of our body. There are
possibilities that the heart and lungs being damaged by the
radiation. Lower dose radiation is one solution to slightly
overcome from this critical issue.

Though mesothelioma is a permanent cancer disease and the
survival rate is very low, timely identification and perfect
treatment at the right time could able to help us survive some
long time.