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.
In spite of all its side effects, chemotherapy has proved to be the best of all the present mesothelioma treatments imparted. It is a less aggressive treatment than radiation or surgery. The process is usually long drawn out, physically and emotionally difficult for the affected.
Advancements in the field of medical science are bringing forth new treatment methods for mesothelioma. But many of them have not produced stable results so far like immunotherapy that aims at improving the immune response of the body. Heated intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy assists in increasing the penetration of anti-cancer drugs. Before being administered, the drugs are heated to a particular degree in this process. Ongoing researches give us the hope that better mesothelioma treatment options would be made available in the near future.
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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