The stage of cancer at the time of detection plays an important role in the success of mesothelioma treatments. Both traditional and modern methods are used by the doctors according to their discretion. Surgery, medications like chemotherapy and radiation are examples of conventional therapies used by physicians. They may use two or three of these techniques combined also if the situation demands so. As a result of treatment more than two-thirds of stage-1 and stage-2 mesothelioma patients are enabled to get their lives extended by five or more years. Surgery has also helped the patients in the same manner on an average of sixteen percent of all the cases.
Surgical procedure involves removing the cancerous growth through incisions. Decortication or pleurectomy is the commonly used surgery in which the removal of chest lining is done. The surgery which removes the lining around the lungs, inside the chest, the hemi-diaphragm and pericardium is called the Extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). This kind of surgery is not widely used.
If the disease is not widely spread, radiation is the best treatment option. It can also be given post-operatively. In consonance with chemotherapy, sometimes the entire hemi-thorax is made to undergo radiation. Thousands of mesothelioma patients have received added years due to this type of treatment. The spread of destructive cells can be further prevented through radiation. Among all the mesothelioma treatments chemotherapy is found to be the best. It is not a harsh treatment like radiation or surgery, though the process is lengthy. The patient finds it physically and emotionally difficult to tolerate.
The new technique immunotherapy, aimed at improving the immunity of the body has not given a stable result till now. Heated Intraoperative Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy aids in enhancing the penetration of anti-cancer drugs. In this treatment, the drugs are heated to a particular degree of temperature before given to the patients. Numerous researches are going on to provide more useful mesothelioma treatments.
The extent of the disease, the age of the patient and his or her overall health are taken into consideration before starting treatment. Before starting the process, the patient needs to find out the best suitable treatment, its costs, advantages or disadvantages of the treatment strategy followed, risk factors and chances of survival. In cases where aggressive mesothelioma treatments are impossible, palliative treatment, which treats only the symptoms and not the root cause, is followed.
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