As with all cancer, treatment for Asbestos Mesothelioma is determined by the location of your cancer, the progression of your disease, the age along with state of health of the patient.
It’s the oncologist who centers on the disease that will select the road of treatment. The disease is very tough to stop and in most cases the prognosis is poor. Treatment solutions include:
1. Generally if the diagnosis is made in the early stages surgery could be recommended to remove all cancerous tissues. This implies thoracoscopy, VATS or video assisted thoracic surgery, mediastinoscopy (aimed at staging), or laproscopy. Often, doctors will advise palliative procedures like chest tube drainage and pleurodesis, thoracoscopy and pleurodesis, pleuroperitonial shunt, or pleurectomy, which treat the symptoms of asbestos mesothelioma rather than the disease.
2. Radiation is prescribed aggressively for Mesothelioma patients and is likely often given in combination with surgery or in order to control symptoms, palliatively. Investigation on using radiation therapy using implants or UV light therapy is in progress as traditional radiation therapy damages surrounding healthy tissue.
3. Chemotherapy is an option and around 12-20% of patients answer to the drugs. Anti-cancer drugs destroy cancer cells and forestall their spread. In mesothelioma, chemotherapy would not be thought to be curative. The aim is to prevent spread of the disease; shrink the tumor in advance of surgery, generally known as neoadjuvant therapy; to annihilate any remains of the tumor inside the body post surgery; and to relieve pain as well as other discomfort, palliative chemotherapy. Experts recommend prescribing premetrexed along with cisplastin. These drugs have proved positive outcomes and this is now standard care for asbestos mesothelioma not treatable by surgery.
4. Biological aid using interleukin 2.
5. Immunotherapy where the body’s own immune system is stimulated to fight the disorder. Biological response modifiers, BRMs, are used in treatment. These enhance the functions of your immune system; regulate metabolic reactions that promote development of cancers; alter cancer cell division; block or reverse processes that lead to formation of cancers; and forestall spread of cancer.
6. Gene therapy, where attempts are applied to correct the gene sequence that causes the tumor. This is of two kinds, replacement gene therapy and knockout gene therapy.
7. Useage of lovastatin, a cholesterol lowering prescription.
8. Photodynamic treatment where a photosensitive medication is activated with a laser. This is often done while in the surgical removal of cancerous tissues.
9. Draining of fluid within the chest or abdominal cavity followed by introduction of medication into the cavity to stop fluid accumulation is practiced for patients who have uncontrolled fluid accumulation and intense discomfort stemming from it.
10. Combination therapy or Trimodal therapy resulting in surgery along with radiation and chemotherapy.
Often, complementary medicines are also used. Termed for being holistic this type of treatment focuses on a patient’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well being.
In the instance of Mesothelioma that’s untreatable one can go with clinical trials of cutting edge treatments which might be in progress in various research laboratories and centers.
The ideal advice on the road of treatment might possibly be that recommended by your oncologist or physician for asbestos mesothelioma.